


Something To Live For

by Esoulix, xanydee



Series: STLF!verse [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alive Gabriel, Fix-It, Gabriel just wants a family, Glitter, Humour, Idiots in Love, M/M, Miscommunication, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pillow & Blanket Forts, Post-Episode: s09e07 Bad Boys, Resurrection, Season 9 fix it, Slow Burn, Soulmates, Team Free Love, This fic is very gay, human!Cas, mostly canon compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-14 20:26:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 28,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8027836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esoulix/pseuds/Esoulix, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xanydee/pseuds/xanydee
Summary: Gabriel's back. No one knows why, or how. All they know is that this will make for a very interesting life. Rating for future chapters - just to be safe.





	1. The One With The Pink Sparkles and Where Gabriel Is A Pretty Princess

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first work and Esoulix' first collab. I firmly believe that there should be more TFL fics out there so I decided to stop lurking and start contributing. I shared this with Esoulix with hope she'd be my beta which she offered before I even asked, proving she's the angel I believe she is <3 
> 
> But then I had an idea to collab. :3 So the summary is still a WIP as we're still hashing out a lot of our ideas for the story and I'll update that when we have a better summary :P
> 
> But I really really wanted to share this first chapter so here you go <3 
> 
>  
> 
> Title of the work comes from Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Something to Live For" - because the lyrics are just too perfect for our boys for me NOT to use.

It started like all things start with the Winchesters. Chaotic, confusing, and at least a little bit dangerous. But when it came down to it in the end, no one could truthfully say they regretted the whole thing. 

 

\-----

 

“Sonova _ bitch _ !” Sam heard Dean yell from his seat in the library, where he had been reading one of the Wizard of Oz books that he had initially picked up to read just for kicks before Sonny called. Dean thought he was a little crazy, since they both actually  _ knew _ Dorothy, and he’d thought that at least  _ Sam _ would understand and respect the privacy of the real person that inspired the character. And it wasn’t like they actually needed any of that information on Oz, since the only key to Oz was taken with Charlie when her and Dorothy walked down that yellow brick road.

Sam dropped his book and pulling out his trusty Taurus, he ran towards Dean’s voice, which sounded like it was coming from one of the storage rooms.

When Sam opened the door to storage room, with perhaps more force than was actually necessary, the scene before him made his jaw drop. It was only his hunter training that prevented him from dropping his gun as well, out of the sheer shock of what he was seeing before him.

There was Dean, in the middle of the room, with a jar of  _ something… _ sparkly and in all kinds of shades of  _ pink _ , open in front of him covering the entire top half of his body. If it had been just that, Sam probably would have just laughed at Dean and taken a picture for future blackmail and mocking material. No, it wasn’t the ridiculous state in which Dean was currently in that was shocking Sam. It was everything  _ else, _ and the  _ other person in the room _ . 

The room which had previously been a dusty old storage room filled to the brim with artifacts that desperately needed organizing and categorizing (which he assumed was what Dean was doing before this happened) was now a 4 year old girl’s princess and unicorn dream room. The ceiling was strung with pink gossamer sheets across the entire length with little strings with pink and rainbow angel and unicorn figurines hanging from them here and there. Instead of the rows and rows of artifacts, on the right side of the room was a large white canopy bed that was filled with so many pillows and what looked like the fluffiest duvet blanket that Sam had ever  _ seen _ and he was certain that if he layed down he would sink for days until he was in a cocoon of fluffy pillows and duvet. On the far side of the room, opposite Sam, there was the biggest… well, dollhouse didn’t even cover it. It was more like one of those tables that those warhammer geeks use to set up whatever those scenes were called. It took up the entire length of the room and was at least 3 feet wide. There was what looked like a mountainscape on one side with an entrance and Sam  _ swore _ he could see something move inside one of the cave entrances. On the other side was a large castle - it had 4 tall towers with an even taller tower in the center, with a tall brick wall surrounding it and a fucking  _ moat _ to boot. (And Sam  _ had _ to be going crazy because he swears he just saw a head peek up out of the water.) In between the castle and the mountains was a little town, a few farms, and lots of rolling hills with a road that led from the mountain to the castle.

On the left side of the room, was a vanity and large boudoir that was open revealing a plethora of dresses, some poofy, some long and slinky, some short and cute. (Sam will deny until Kingdom come that he thought they were cute.) The vanity matched the rest of the room in its bright pinkness, but it looked older and had a more rustic beauty to it compared to the pink silliness everything else had. If Sam didn’t know any better, he’d say that it might have actually belonged to a princess before it showed up here in this pink monstrosity of a room.

 

And, sitting there, at the vanity, looking smug as hell, in the poofiest, pinkest floor length ball gown, hair pinned back in an intricate pattern of braids, donning a dainty silver crown with, yupp, you guessed it, pink jewels in it, was none other than Gabriel.

 

Gabriel, who the Winchesters thought had been killed by Lucifer. Gabriel, who had put both of them through hell, first at Mystery Spot, and then with TV Land. Gabriel, who had run from his family because he couldn’t stand the fighting, only to finally do the right thing, and die for it. Gabriel, for whom Sam felt guilty about every time he thought of him, because he was well aware that they had asked him to do something neither Winchester would  _ ever _ be able to do, kill his brother. 

 

“Hey, kiddo. Miss me?”


	2. The One With Dean's Just Desserts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel's being a little shit as usual, and Dean gets his just desserts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg you guys, definitely felt the love after the last chapter. Esoulix and I have been chatting all day fully hashing out our outline for the story. It's probably going to end up to be quite a long fic. :) Prepare for lots of angsty cuteness. We're going to keep it as canon compliant as possible while fixing the various aspects we hated :P Like Charlie, Kevin, and Hannah dying. Yepp, those deaths are definitely not gonna happen.

Dean sputtered, trying to get as much of this pink shit out of his mouth as possible. And goddammit he’s pretty sure he swallowed some of it. _I really really hope this stuff isn’t dangerous_.

He could hear Sam sputtering behind him and snapped his head around to look at him, worried that Sam had gotten hit too. He breathed a sigh of relief, unfortunately inhaling more of the pink shit while he did it, when he saw that Sam looked unharmed. And then he turned to try and figure out what had gotten Sam’s panties in a twist this time.

And then he was sputtering for an entirely different reason.

“Gabriel!?” The boys cried out at the same time. And Dean couldn’t help but notice the hint of hopefulness in Sam’s voice that was barely drowned out by the disbelief.

“That’s what they call me.” The golden-eyed archangel said sardonically.

“But you died! Lucifer killed you!” Sam exclaimed, still refusing to truly believe that this was really the archangel who died because of them.

“Yup, I definitely did.  No idea why I’m back though. _Or_ who brought me back, so don’t bother asking.”

There was an awkward pause as Sam and Dean tried to make sense of the situation. Dean grimaced and wiped at his face, glaring at his hand when it came back bedazzled. He spat in hopes of getting rid of the sandy taste in his mouth, deciding then and there that _Gabriel was never going to be forgiven for this_.

Sam snorted at his older brothers sulking, shaking his head before turning to Gabriel. He just couldn't believe it. Gabriel had died — he might not have been there for it, but he knew it had happened.

“So...are you...are you okay?” Sam asked Gabriel tentatively.

Gabriel raised eyebrow at Sam’s question. _Why does he care?_

“Yeah, I mean. I’m not at full power right now but I’ll be good soon enough.”

Dean was still desperately trying to get as much of the sparkles off of him as possible. But since he was so thoroughly covered, all he was really doing was moving it around.

“Goddammit” he muttered in frustration. “Is this your doing?” he snapped at Gabriel.

Gabriel smirked. _Goddammit, he should not be able to look so damn smug and confident while his hair was in braid and wearing that monstrosity of a dress,_ Dean thought. “Yeah, and you’re lucky too. You wouldn’t have liked what that stuff actually was.”

Sam straightened and stared at Dean who was still pretty much completely covered in pink sparkles. “Why? What was it?” he asked hesitantly.

Gabriel’s smirk grew into the mischievous grin that Sam remembered so well. He waggled his eyebrows. “A fuck or die spell.”

Dean froze.

“Shit.”

Sam stared at Dean. “WHAT THE HELL, DEAN?”

Dean grimaced. “What?” he snapped back.

“Why the hell would you open something like that?!”

“Well it's not like I did it on purpose, Sammy!”

Sam gave him bitchface #2. “It was OPEN. In front of you. Not broken like you dropped it accidently,” Sam countered. “Now, why the hell would you open something like that?”

Dean looked vaguely uncomfortable.

Sam’s bitchface intensified. Gabriel felt extremely amused watching the entire interaction going down. “Dean. Why. Did. You. Open. That. Jar.”

Dean cleared his throat, mumbling something unintelligible. The pink smattering of glitter on his cheeks seemed to intensify in colour.

Sam grew frustrated and looked at Gabriel, knowing that he heard Dean clearly, based purely off the look of sheer glee on his face. “Gabriel, what did Dean say? He seems to be incapable of basic speech at the moment.” Dean glared at Sam.

Gabriel grinned viciously. “Why, of course, I’d love to help you out here. He said: ‘I was hoping I could use it for good prank material.’”

Sam stared at Dean incredulously. “IN WHAT WORLD DOES A FUCK OR DIE SPELL MAKE FOR GOOD PRANK MATERIAL??”

“The jar didn't exactly have a label saying ‘FUCK OR DIE, NOT GOOD PRANK MATERIAL’, Sammy! It was pink, and most of the other spells in this storage room are relatively harmless!” Dean defended himself. His shoulders were hunched protectively.

Gabriel was snickering from his seat at the vanity, avidly watching the interaction as Sam and Dean went back and forth. The Trickster in him was loving this. This was almost good as the time when they all first met. Gabriel’s snickering seemed to have caught Sam’s attention and Sam turned to look at the Trickster inquisitively, head cocked to the side much like Cas does when he’s confused. _Father, these hunters have spent too much time with Cassie._ Sam stared at Gabriel a moment longer before asking, “Gabriel, if this was you’re doing” he gestured at the pink princess wonderland, “then why are _you_ dressed as the princess?”

If Sam did know any better, he could’ve sworn that he saw a flicker of embarrassment flit through Gabriel’s expression before the smug confidence reasserted itself. “Because pink just happens to be my colour, and dresses are just so much more freeing than slacks are.” Gabriel smirked in reply.

Dean scoffed. “Yeah well your _highness_ . I want to go wash up and get this sparkly shit off me. I'm going to be finding glitter for _days_.” Dean finally stood up and started walking to the door, shoving past Sam. Dean paused for a second at the door.

“Thanks for the save”, he mumbled to Gabriel, not looking at him, before rushing out the door, leaving Sam alone with Gabriel.

An awkward silence settled between the pair. Gabriel's smirk faltered a little. Sam wasn’t entirely sure where to look. Everytime he looked at Gabriel, he wasn’t sure if he should laugh or not. He couldn’t quite take him seriously in the princess getup. But Gabriel was kind of right. Pink _did_ look good on him. And the braids added a sort of regalness that Sam hadn't expected. But that damn poufiness of the dress sort of made him look like a Princess Peach lookalike contest reject.

“So um, do you want to, um, I don’t know, um,” Sam stammered, not really sure what he was trying to say, just trying desperately to kill the awkward silence.

“Wow Sammich, are you always this smooth when around the skirts?” Gabriel asked, confident smirk returning in full force.

Sam couldn’t help the blush that coloured his cheeks as much as he wanted to. “Shut up. Anyway, can you change out of that, I can’t take you seriously in that getup, and we’ve got a lot to talk about.”

“Aww, Sammy, but I feel so pretty like this.” Gabriel said, smoothing the nonexistence wrinkles from the dress.

Sam rolled his eyes. “Yeah, okay, but now we need to have some serious conversations here, and figure out how you came back, who brought you back, and why.”

“Who said there needed to be a reason I was brought back? What if it was just because I’m special and I was missed? Huh?” Gabriel said pouting.

“We missed you!” Sam hurried to reassure him. “It’s just…” Sam trailed off, looking down. Gabriel’s pout changed to a look of gentle understanding. “It’s just that normally good things don’t happen to you guys without a heavy price to pay, is that it?”

Sam continued to not look at Gabriel. “Yeah,” he mumbled in reply.

Gabriel looked at Sam for a moment and then nodded. With a snap of his fingers the room changed back to normal - although this time it was organized and tidy, instead of the chaotic mess it had been before. Sam looked up at Gabriel, and gone was the dress, replaced with what some would call Winchester chic; Gabriel was dressed in dark fitting blue jeans, a black v-neck henley, with a red plaid long sleeve button down thrown casually over it.

“Better?” Gabriel asked softly. Sam smiled. “Yeah, thanks.” Sam began to make his way to the door. “Why don’t we go to the kitchen and wait for Dean to be done with his shower. He’s gonna want to be here for this.”

“Alright, Sammo, lead the way.” Gabriel said with a flourish of his arm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one ended up more crack-y than initially intended. Partially because we ended up RPing Sam and Dean while writing which we were endlessly amused at. Let us know what you think! And let us know who you think it was that brought Gabriel back ;)


	3. The One Where Dean Has An Sparkly, Angsty Shower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean reflects on his most recent choices in life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Esoulix' muse had a difficult time with this chapter :P I've got 2 more chapters raring and ready to go which I may update today but probably tomorrow since Esoulix wants us to set up a more spread out posting schedule so we can give our muses a bit of wiggle room to write. So we're thinking we might update every Sunday - depending on how cooperative our muses are. Right now we're working on Chapter 6.

Dean grumbled to himself as he made his way to the showers. He hadn’t meant any harm, Sam didn’t have to be so judgemental about it. All the spells and ingredients in that room had been harmless, as far as he had figured. There was no reason for him to think that the pink powder would be dangerous.

Sometimes Dean hated the Men of Letters. Their logging system was archaic - even by a hunter’s standard. Sam and Dean had to do a complete overhaul of the items scattered about the Batcave, the organization was all over the place. 

Dean’s inner clean freak was driven crazy with how unorganized the Men of Letters collection was. Oh, sure, it was expansive, but that was part of the problem. There just was  _ so much stuff. _

They’d been in the Bunker for almost a year, now, and they were still stumbling on random spells just about everywhere. Most have been harmless - well, reversible, at least - so far. The Men of Letters dealings in magic were dangerous, obscure, and sometimes downright strange, but they hardly ever left something too dangerous out of the locked storage rooms. Even the idiots in the MoL weren’t moronic enough to leave volatile spells out in the open.

Which is why it was so surprising that a rapey spell like a Fuck or Die spell was so near magics like clairvoyance and translation spells. He had thought that perhaps the spell did something amusing like turn Sam into an actual girl, make him sing, or something.

God,  _ fuck or die _ .

Dean reached the washroom, sighing through his nose and promptly sneezing.  _ Ugh _ .

_ Stupid Men of Letters, stupid pink powder, stupid Gabriel, stupid glitter. _

With an annoyed grunt, Dean shucked off his Dead-man’s Robe, grimacing as glitter flew everywhere. Dean shuffled into the shower, trailing pink shimmer all across the shower-room floor. There was no end to it. It was like sucking on a watermelon - no matter how much he lost, the exact same amount remained. Dean had little hopes of ridding himself completely of the stuff in one shower.

Which was fair enough, he supposed. After all, he nearly exposed him  _ and _ Sam to a witch’s equivalent to a date-rape drug. Gabriel really had saved their sorry asses,  _ again _ . It nearly made up for killing Dean a thousand times and giving Sam a complex.

Dean still wasn’t forgiving Gabriel for the glitter, though.  _ It was pink _ .

Now that was just wrong.

Dean groaned as a sudden realisation hit him. He would have to contact Cas, and tell him what’s going on. Dean just hoped all the glitter was gone by the time he got to see him again. He did  _ not _ want to answer the questions that would inevitably arouse.

Dean washed through his hair, trying to get as much of the glitter as possible out. He was never going to live this down.  The eldest Winchester scrubbed furiously at his bedazzled skin, trying to put together just why Gabriel was even here. Or how. After what they had bullied him into attempting, Dean didn’t think they’d ever see him again. Even  _ if _ Gabriel had survived, Dean figured the archangel slash pagan god hybrid would have skedaddled as far away from the Winchesters as possible. Hell, if that had been the case, Dean couldn’t have blamed him.

But apparently Gabriel had legitimately died, and now was  _ not _ dead, and had no idea  _ how _ .

On top of that, there was still everything else; Sam still had no idea of Dean’s betrayal, still trusted Dean implicitly, Zeke was still being an utter ass, Gabriel might - will probably - find out there was an Angel riding in Sam’s backseat, and Cas was being _far_ too understanding and forgiving.

Jesus, he missed Cas. 

That whole ordeal with the Rit-zien was as much a torture as it had been a balm. On one hand, he got to see Cas again, but at the same time, he had  _ known _ that he would inevitably have to abandon Cas again once the hunt was over. When he thought Cas scored a date with that Norah chick, he’d been so proud. 

Mostly. 

After that... _night_...he left Cas  in the motel room, things had been strained between them. Part of Dean wanted Cas to move on, away from Dea - the  _ Winchester's - , _  where it was safe. Where Cas didn't have to destroy himself over and over again just to make ends meet.

_ “I'm always happy to bleed for the Winchesters.” _

So Dean had grinned in apparent delight, patted Cas on the shoulder, and encouraged the date with the Norah woman.

Only it wasn't a date.

It was a _babysitting_ job, and Cas was assaulted by a Rit-zien who tried to explode Cas into a trillion  little chicken-nugget-goop atoms. The child was kept safe, Dean killed the Rit-zien, and they drove off into the night.

Usually that was when the credits rolled, the theme song played and the story ended, but Cas needed a place to sleep that wasn't the storage room of a gas-station corner store, and Dean had…  _ accidently _ … bought two singles instead of a double. 

…. Dean denies everything.

Resting his head against the tile, Dean heaved a sigh. Okay, so he felt guilty for abandoning Cas at that gas station; and to compensate for his conscience throwing a temper tantrum in his head, he’d rented two beds instead of one...and then bought Cas lunch. Then dinner, and later on, breakfast.

… He was looking so thin! Guy needed better food in his system. And he needed a bed that wasn't inflatable and bumpy. Cas deserved better.

So if Dean set up Cas with Charlie's old apartment (which they'd set up as a safe-house) after making sure he had enough money for at least a month…

Well.

What happens in Idaho,  _ stays _ in Idaho.

In the morning, Cas had given Dean one long, inscrutable look, and tilted his head. Dean left without looking Cas in the eye.  But Dean suspected Cas already knew that there was something more going on, and was determined to figure out what.

With a reluctant groan, Dean shut off the shower and stepped out.

It was time to deal with their renegade Archangel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let us know what you think :) Comments, kudos, bookmarks, and subscriptions keep us going! <3   
> Also, we're looking for a beta - let us know if you'd like to help us out! <3


	4. The One Where They Wait For Dean - Gabriel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel's musings as they wait for Dean to get back from his shower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my muse seems to be a dirty lazy procrastinator, and decided to shut up once she realised that she had a lot of buffer room. So I'm posting this to kick her butt into gear :P - xanydee

Sam led Gabriel to the kitchen, feeling less awkward now that Gabriel was wearing normal clothing, and now that he had something to do.

He walked over to the fridge and grabbed three beers and put one on the table and held another out to Gabriel. “You want one?” He asked the Trickster.

Gabriel quirked an eyebrow. He could very well just snap up a top shelf whiskey for all of them, but he recognized the sentiment in the action. So, he accepted the offer of hospitality and took the beer. “Thanks.”

They drank their beers in silence as they waited for Dean to come back. It was a comfortable silence this time, though that’s likely because they had the beers and their own thoughts to distract themselves.

 

Gabriel was thinking about the last time he saw the younger hunter. They had shared the briefest of looks as the brothers ushered Kali out. He had always felt some sort of connection to the younger Winchester, ever since their first meeting at that college all those years ago.

If he was honest with himself, it was their souls that initially drew him to them. Two human brothers with impossibly bright souls. At first, he thought he had been found by his brothers and that he was seeing Grace, not souls. He had almost disappeared out of sheer fright, until he realized that his warding was flawless, and even if they had been angels, they would have just thought him a pagan god, not a fellow angel. So he stayed put to sate his curiosity as to why these two _impossibly_ bright beings were looking into the deaths of some lowly douchebags.

It was when he had first interacted with the Winchesters that he realized who, and what, they were. He felt immediate sorrow for the brothers, knowing their fate, and knowing that they did not yet know it themselves, but that they were destined to try and kill each other. Especially when he saw the younger hunter’s soul. While they were equal in brightness, Sam’s soul had a sort of resonance to it that just shouted innocence and goodness, even with that small taint of demon blood. He mourned, because he knew that the innocence would be lost, and that the goodness would be overshadowed with the demon blood, and hated his family for even thinking about subjecting this poor boy to that fate.

But, he had ran. He had no place in interfering with the Winchesters. If he had wanted a say, he should have stayed in heaven.

So, he kept his cover, and let the boys think that he was nothing more than a Trickster god, and that they had killed him with that silly, _silly_ wooden stake. He had left clues of course, that he was still alive if they had deigned to question it (the bedroom set left on the stage, for example, which didn’t disappear when he “died” like the rest of his creations had) but they never did so he forgot about them for a time.

Until of course, he began to notice the signs of the chess pieces being moved - both Heaven and Hell were preparing for what was to come. And through an amazing set of coincidences, he found himself in the same town as the brothers again. One of his jobs had attracted their attention. He decided on a whim that he couldn’t just sit by this time. He needed to try and do _something_ for these brothers.

Especially Sam. He knew that Dean dying was going to lead him down a dark path, one that would utterly _destroy_ the brightness of his soul. Gabriel couldn’t stand the thought of it. So, he tried, in his own, admittedly, now that he thought about it, demented way, to show Sam that Dean’s death was inevitable, and try to help Sam learn to deal with it in a healthy way and not go down the path that destiny was wanting him to go. But, it didn’t work. And when Sam _begged_ him to bring Dean back (though he had never really been dead in the first place, just asleep in a pocket dimension), with those sinfully wide and wet puppy dog eyes, Gabriel caved. Which was crazy in it’s own right, he had raised countless fledglings during his stint in heaven, and then his own children while he was Loki; those puppy dog eyes should _not_ have worked as well as they had.

 

Gabriel allowed himself to be brought back to the present and refocused his gaze on the hunter in front of him. He'd definitely grown since they'd last laid eyes on each other. Though he was obviously more or less the same height, this iteration of Sam _looked_ bigger. His shoulders were broader, he looked more filled out, more muscled, his jaw was more defined, his hair longer, his eyes more shrewd. Yes. The boy who was just barely a man that he had met all those years ago, was most _definitely_ a man now. And he was a man who had been through many hardships. Gabriel could _see_ the pain in his eyes, the self-loathing and hatred, the hopelessness. Sam put on a good front though; Gabriel could tell that Sam was used to hiding his true feelings, and his true thoughts.

What really boggled Gabriel though, was that despite the age showing through on his physical body, Sam’s _soul_ still seemed to emit that innocence and goodness that had been there when Gabriel had first met him. The resonance was more subdued now, and the soul itself was still as bright as ever. There were still spots of darkness from the demon blood but those darknesses seemed to only make the brightness of his soul that much more apparent in contrast. Gabriel was grateful that that hadn’t been lost. The universe would have suffered a great loss if the brightness of this soul had been destroyed as it was supposed to have been during the apocalypse.

The other thing that Gabriel had managed to notice was that there was a thin tendril of soul linking back to Dean’s soul - it didn’t look like it had solely belonged to one brother or the other, but rather, it appeared to have aspects of both souls, like they had been irrevocably intertwined. Gabriel hadn’t noticed that during their previous meetings. Granted, the last time they met, he was quite distracted by Kali, and trying to free the boys, and the almost dying, and the _actual_ dying. So he’d forgive himself for not seeing it that time.

Normally this kind of tendril doesn’t appear unless souls had experienced their heaven together. Gabriel had been aware that they had died on more than one occasion and had been to heaven on many of those occasions. But the only time that a tendril such as this would appear would be if both parties were aware and accepting of their status of soulmates. However that did not appear to be the case here, because while that meddling Ash may have let slip about the whole sharing heavens thing - it was clear that the boys had disregarded this fact and had willfully chosen to ignore and move on. It was curious that the tendril was there anyways. As far as Gabriel knew, that had never happened before. But then, since when did the Winchesters ever follow the rules?

Well, if they were choosing to ignore this, that was their prerogative. _He_ most definitely wasn’t going to bring it up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you think? The whole soul tendril thing is sort of a kin to the red string of fate thing mixed with a bunch of other soulmate lore. It just kind of popped up when I was writing Gabe's part.
> 
> Sammy's part is coming up next, and then we're getting into some fancy dialogue between these three. I'm hoping to speed things up a little bit and really start getting into the more plotty plotness and angsty feels of the story soon.
> 
> Comments also keep us motivated. Knowing what you think really helps fuel us into writing.


	5. The One Where They Wait For Dean - Sam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam's musings as they wait for Dean to come back from the showers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late!  
> I work nights at my job, and my boss recently increased my workload by a bit so I have less time to write.  
> Also, we're kind of stuck on the conversation scene between Gabriel, Sam, and Dean coming up. Can't seem to get it to flow right, so it may be a little bit until we post again. - X

Sam, on the other hand, was most definitely not thinking about his soul right at that moment. No, his thoughts were on Gabriel.

 

Sam thought back to TV land, back to when they first found out that the “Trickster” they’d been hunting, that’d had put them through so much grief, was none other than the Archangel Gabriel.  _ Sam’s favourite angel _ ; the angel that he’d prayed to nightly before the he’d found out just how douchey the angels were. For a moment he was embarrassed, sure that Gabriel recognized him from his prayers. But the Archangel gave no indication that he did. Rather, he just went on about how the apocalypse was inevitable, and Sam was distracted by the obvious pain and sorrow and  _ anger _ in Gabriel’s voice. For some reason, it had really bothered Sam to hear that in his voice. He found that he much preferred the easygoing laughter and cheeky cockiness that was the Trickster’s norm. But the anger in that voice also served to give a glimpse of the powerful being that Gabriel truly was. 

At the time, Sam had let Dean take the lead and do the talking for the most part. Because how does one act around the angel that you’d prayed to diligently for the larger portion of your life? So, rather than truly embarrass himself, he stayed quiet for the most part.

 

But that encounter stayed with Sam for a long time, he’d wondered if Gabriel had actually heard his prayers, or if he’d been a pagan god for so long that he’d completely tuned out all the prayers he’d gotten on the angel radio. Sam debated once or twice, restarting his daily prayers to Gabriel. But couldn’t quite bring himself to do so, knowing that there was a chance he could actually be heard. Not only by Gabriel himself, but also to whoever else might be trying to listen in. And after Gabriel died, he knew there hadn’t been any point. 

 

Sam absentmindedly played with the label on his bottle. He had thought about the archangel quite a bit over the years. Often wondering how Gabriel might have reacted to one prank or the other. Or if Sam happened to hear Heat of the Moment or Back in Time playing on the radio or at the store, or when he saw maple or strawberry syrup. 

Sam was doing better now with the Mystery Spot memories. They just made him shudder now, instead of triggering a full-blown panic attack. He’d managed to hide most of the panic attacks from Dean, instead allowing him to think that he just had a complex over those songs and over those flavours of syrup. To this day the only flavour of syrup allowed in the bunker was  _ anything _ but maple or strawberry, and whenever those songs came on the radio, Dean always quickly but nonchalantly changed the station. 

 

The thought made Sam smile; Dean was always looking out for him, even in the smallest of ways. Sam was truly lucky to have such a good big brother. God, Sam had betrayed him so many times, yet Dean always forgave him. He even stuck around when Sam was being a petty brat over the times that Dean had pissed him off. Sam really needed to do something for Dean sometime, he really didn’t show his appreciation nearly enough. 

_ Though maybe I’ll wait on that for a bit. Definitely going to get Dean back for even thinking about using that spell to try and prank me.  _ Sam thought.  _ Maybe I could get Gabriel to help me out. If Dean wants a prank war, then it’s a prank war he’ll get. _ A slow grin started to form on Sam’s lips before he remembered that there were more pressing things at hand that deserved his brain power. Sam sighed a little,  _ I suppose a prank war will have to wait. But when it does start, it’s going to be  _ **_epic_ ** _. _

 

Sam forced his thoughts to the more sobering topic of Gabriel’s resurrection.  _ Well there aren’t too many beings that are more powerful than an Archangel,  _ Sam mused.  _ Maybe God brought him back? He’s brought Cas back. Twice now. But then, why now? It’s been four years since Gabriel died.  _

Gabriel being brought back after they had averted the apocalypse sure would have saved a lot of grief on Cas’ part - he wouldn’t have had to deal with the whole civil war thing alone, wouldn’t have had to turn to Crowley for help, wouldn’t have let those damn Leviathans out, wouldn’t have fallen for Metatron’s ruse and caused the fall of the Angels. Hm, so maybe not God. God hasn’t shown his face so far, there’s currently no reason to really believe that he would start interfering now. 

Maybe Metatron? Metatron did have the angel tablet, and most certainly has used that knowledge to give himself more power. Maybe it showed him how to bring an Archangel back? Maybe he thought he could use it bring Gabriel under his control? Which is a ridiculous notion, Sam thought. Because seriously, if Gabriel could hide from two other Archangels, plus the entire Heavenly Host for  _ millennia _ , it seemed unlikely that Metatron would be able to rein Gabriel in.  _ Hmmmm, but who else would have the kind of power to bring back not only an Archangel, but also an Archangel who is simultaneously a Pagan god, _ thought Sam.

 

Well, for now, all Sam could do was wait for Dean to get back from his shower so they could have an actual conversation, and hear Gabriel’s account of his resurrection. 

 

Sam made to take another sip of his beer, only to find that he had finished it while he had been lost in his thoughts. He flushed lightly as he wondered how often he had brought the empty bottle to his mouth without noticing that he wasn’t actually drinking anything anymore. His flush deepened as he noticed that Gabriel was no longer lost in his own thoughts, but rather, watching Sam with a smirk on his face. The smirk intensified as Gabriel recognized Sam’s embarrassment. 

“Lost in thought there, Sammich?” 

“Uhh yeah, just a bit” Sam replied uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand as he got up to put his empty into the recycling bin next to the garbage. 

“Umm, would you like another?” He asked Gabriel, trying to pull the attention away from his embarrassing behaviour by being a good host. Gabriel shook his head and just leaned back in his chair and watched Sam move around the kitchen.

“No thanks, Sammo. I’m good.” Gabriel replied, snapping up a lollipop. “Wow, does Dean always take such long showers?”

Sam chuckled. “Well you covered him pretty thoroughly in glitter; he’s probably trying to make sure it’s all out. Plus, the bunker showers have the best water pressure and we have nearly unlimited hot water, so it’s pretty easy to lose track of time just relaxing in there.”

“Riiight. Relaxing.” Gabriel quipped, waggling his eyebrows.

“Oh, shut up. You know that’s not what I meant.” Sam's flush returning full force.

Gabriel leaned forward putting his elbows on to the table, looking for the world like a teenager trying to get the latest gossip during lunch hour. “So tell me Sammyboy, how often do you like to ‘relax’ in there?” he asked with a purr. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keep letting us know what you think! Getting notifcations that someone commented, kudoed, or seeing that more people have bookmarked or subscribed really helps motivate us! It lets us know that we're at the very least heading in a good direction with the story <3 -X


	6. The One Where Explanations Are Had and Avoided

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam, Dean, and Gabriel talk about recent (and not so recent) events.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!! :) So sorry this is late, our muses have been quiet quiet little things as of late. But have no fear! We have started NaNoWriMo for this fic. So we'll try and keep posting while we do this, but it's highly likely that we won't get anything else out until the end of the month. On another note - Fireproof is confirmed canon! :) I'm gonna link it as a part two of the STLF!verse now. <3 - X

“Oh  _ hell _ no” Dean groaned, while he walked into the kitchen, looking remarkably glitter-free. “You may have just saved us from a fuck or die spell, but that does  _ not _ give you a free pass to hit on my little brother.  _ Especially _ in front of me.”

Sam was trying to hide the deep flush that had creeped up his neck and onto his cheeks by opening the fridge and grabbing himself another beer.  _ Dammit I haven’t been this affected by a guy since that night with Brady back at Stanford before he left for break _ . He grabbed two beers and handed a freshly cold one to Dean, and grabbed the now lukewarm one on the table that he had pulled out for him earlier and put it back in the fridge. 

Dean accepted the beer and leaned against the doorway instead of sitting down like Gabriel and Sam had. He grimaced at Sam’s flush. He didn't want to know that Gabriel was having an effect on Sam. That was just wrong on so many levels. 

Gabriel just smirked at both Winchesters. “I'd say that a little flirting is a fine price to pay for having your lives and dignities saved, don't you think? Hell, I'd say you got a deal!”

“So what, you saved our asses, now you own them?” Dean griped. 

Gabriel grinned. “You know what, big guy? I hadn’t thought about it that way, but I’m certainly down for that arrangement.” He said, waggling his eyebrows at the older Winchester.

Sam decided that this would be a good point to intervene before Dean stuck his foot further down in his mouth and got them both in trouble. “So, how long have you been back, Gabe?” He asked loudly, just as Dean was opening his mouth to retort.

Gabriel turned his gaze back to Sam, quirking an eyebrow. “Gabe, huh? Thought nicknames were Deano’s thing. Developing a crush over there?”

Sam’s flush, which had just started to dissipate, returned in full force.  _ Damn this little imp and his ability to do that. But he’s got a point. When did he become Gabe in my head? _ “You didn’t answer my question.” He said, ignoring Gabriel’s question about developing crushes. He wasn’t touching  _ that _ with a ten-foot pole.

Gabriel knew that pushing the matter wasn’t going to get anywhere with Sam, so he graciously dropped it. For now.

“I think I’ve been back for just a little under two weeks.” He replied, “Everything is a little hazy - the first thing I remember after being shanked by dear ol’ Luci is an immense heat surrounding me, like I was being engulfed by fire. But everything after that,” he shrugged. “I flitted in and out of consciousness for a while. I have no idea for how long though.”

Sam nodded. “What’s your first clear memory?”

“Flying.” Gabriel looked a little wistful at that. “Not with my wings, unfortunately, those seem to be gone for the moment. But my Trickster abilities do allow me to bend reality  _ just _ enough to simulate the ability somewhat. I was flying over London, I think.”

Sam and Dean looked at each other, eyebrows raised. “So you just woke up and you were flying?” Dean asked, incredulously. 

Gabriel scoffed. “Of course not. That’s my first _clear_ memory. I’m pretty sure I flitted all over the globe before I finally became aware enough to know what I was doing. You can see why I have no idea who brought me back or why. I don’t even know  _ where _ I was when I was first brought back.”

Dean frowned. He  _ did  _ **_not_ ** like the idea of a barely aware Trickster ‘flitting’ around the globe. They had enough problems with the Angels, and now Abbadon, and of course the rest of the regular baddies. Dealing with the aftermath of a blacked-out Trickster was the last thing they needed.

“You said your wings are gone for the moment, and that you weren’t at full power right now, what did you mean by that? You still seem pretty powerful, considering you were able to do what you did in the storage room.” Sam asked after a moment of thought.

“I seem to be running purely on Trickster power,” Gabriel began. “Who ever brought me back wasn’t powerful enough to bring me back completely, just my Pagan side.” Gabriel paused thoughtfully for a moment, “I suppose that you should probably be calling me Loki then, considering I don’t have access to any of my Grace right now.” 

Sam and Dean exchanged another look. “You want us to call you ‘Loki’?” Sam asked somewhat hesitantly.

Gabriel waved a hand. “Nah. It would just be more accurate right now. Give me a few more months and I should have full access to my Grace again. It would probably go faster if I went back up to heaven, but that would mean dealing with Mike and Raph, and I don’t really feel up for that. They’re probably both still pissed that I tried to kill Luci. I doubt that they’d be at all sympathetic.”

Sam squirmed a little in his seat, and Dean looked away. Gabriel raised his eyebrows. “Guys? What’s wrong?”

Sam cleared his throat, not meeting his eyes. “Well. Um. Gabe, y-you’ve been gone a  _ really long time _ . And a lot has happened since you died.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Well I’ve gathered that I’ve been gone a while, you guys don’t exactly look as young as you did when I last saw you. And obviously you two chuckleheads managed to actually get Luci, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. Hell, half the world wouldn’t be here. Oh, hey. Kudos on saving the world by the way.” 

Gabriel frowned, the boys still weren’t meeting his gaze. “What? I mean, sure you guys have some nice shindigs here, nice wards fyi - they almost kept me out but I’ve been around a while, it was a struggle but I got past them, but what else could have changed?”

Sam took a deep breath and finally looked up at Gabriel. There wasn’t really a point in prolonging this. “Gabe,  _ a lot _ changed.”

 

\---

 

Gabriel whistled lowly. “You boys sure like being in the heat of things dontcha?”

Dean rolled his eyes. “It’s not exactly like we go looking for this crap. It finds us.”

Gabriel scoffed at that. “Right, well if you could leave well enough alone, half that shit wouldn’t have happened.”

“Hey, the purgatory thing was totally not our fault. Neither is heaven being closed.” Sam said defensively.

“Yeah, well if you left poor lil Cassie alone, he probably wouldn’t have even thought to get himself into those messes.” Gabriel retorted. He noticed that Dean, at least, had the decency to look somewhat ashamed. “Speaking of the little angel on your shoulder, where is the lil guy?” 

Dean flinched. But Sam didn’t seem to notice. He just shrugged and said, “Apparently he felt he was endangering us by staying here. He felt we had enough heat on our asses without adding the angels hunting him down.” Sam frowned, “not that that makes  _ any sense _ whatsoever. The bunker would clearly be the safest place for him. But Dean couldn’t convince him to stay.”

Dean flinched again, which Gabriel noticed this time. He narrowed his eyes slightly at the older hunter. “Hmm.”  He grunted thoughtfully. “Well the lil guy has always been a bit bullheaded. Recent events obviously adding evidence to that. I’m sure you did the best you could, Dean.” Dean looked even more miserable but Gabriel left it at that. He realized as soon as he asked where Castiel was that he wasn’t actually ready to see him yet. They hadn’t exactly left on good terms when they had last spoke. He was probably still at least a little resentful after the events of TV Land. 

Silence followed his statement while the three were lost in their own thoughts. While Gabriel was ruminating over his strained relationship with Castiel, Dean was trying to decide if Gabriel would be able to help with the whole Sammy/Zeke thing and thus allow Cas to come back home, and Sam was thinking about Gabriel’s resurrection.

“Out of curiosity,” Sam began, interrupting the other two’s thoughts. “What sort of powers does Loki have? I mean, how does it differ from your angelic abilities?”

Dean snorted while looking at Sam fondly. “Nerd.” he mumbled under his breath. Or at least he thought it was under his breath, but given the bitchface Sam gave him, it wasn’t as quiet as he thought.

Gabriel seemed amused with the question. “Well, I have the time travel ability - pagans have always had a one-up on that on the angels, only the archs and Dad were better at it than they were-, I can bend reality enough to simulate angelic flight - though really it’s just fancy teleportation rather than really flying - general telekinesis, enhanced strength, oh, and of course, reality manipulation, illusions. Things I’ve lost until I can build up enough Grace again, healing others - my body will heal itself relatively quickly, and most things won’t hurt me anyway - though that wretched stake would probably work now - actual flying,” Gabriel looked wistful again. “mind reading, access to most things heavenly - such as angel radio, detection of angels in vessels -” “wait a second,” Dean interrupted. “That doesn’t make any sense, other non-angel beings have been able to detect when angels are occupying a vessel - beings much weaker than you, what’s the diff?”

Gabriel smirked. “The ‘diff’, Deano, is that those angels are in active control of their vessels. Meaning they’re practically broadcasting their Grace. If the situation with heaven and the angels is as bad as you say it is, then most angels right now will be more or less hibernating in their vessels while they heal. Most will have been hurt in the fall and will need the healing.” Dean look thoughtful at that, and if Gabriel didn’t know any better, just a little disappointed.   _ Hmmm, there’s definitely something up here, and Sam obviously doesn’t know. I’ll have to dig it out of Dean later. _

“Hmmm, so, what did you want to do then, Gabe?” Sam asked. “I mean, you’re welcome to stay here for as long as you need.” Dean looked as though he was about to protest, but Sam added, “It’s the least we could do after you died for us.” Dean shut his mouth, and looked down. “All we ask is that you do your share in keeping the place clean and if you get into any fights, don’t bring it here. We’d kind of like to keep this place secure. But I’m sure you have other places that you’d rather be anyways?” 

Gabriel hummed, “well I do have other safehouses, it’s true. But the gathering of Grace will happen faster if I’m around others. Plus, if Castiel gets his head out of his ass and comes back, having another angel around will also speed up the process.”

“Even if he doesn’t have any Grace himself?” Dean asked, looking skeptical. “Even if,” Gabriel replied. “It has to do with presence, not ability. It’s why being around you two will be effective, because you’re the vessels of two archs. And Moose here has residual Grace from housing Luci for that little bit.”

Sam flinched. He didn’t like thinking that a part of Lucifer was still inside him. It was bad enough that he was the boy with the demon blood. 

Gabriel caught the flinch. “Don’t worry Sammo, it’s residual of Grace, not part of Lucifer himself. Grace, and personality are slightly different things. I mean, otherwise how would Cassie still be Cassie if he doesn’t have his Grace anymore?”

Sam relaxed a bit. When put that way, he did feel a bit better about it.

“So, you can sense Grace inside Sam and not me?” Dean asked, somewhat hesitantly, which Sam didn’t notice, but Gabriel did.

“Nope,” Gabriel said, popping the ‘p’ at the end. “But based on what you've told me Sam should have some residual still left, and it will be enough to help speed up my healing process. And with you being True Vessel as well, Grace will be drawn to you more than it would be to regular vessels. So being around you two is basically the best place for me to be.”

“Would finding out how you were brought back help with the process?” Dean asked. 

Gabriel quirked an eyebrow. “Why Deano, that eager to be rid of me?” 

Dean scoffed, “It's not that. Like Sam said earlier, helping you out is the least we could do for you dying for us. We’d have been screwed if you hadn’t given us the extra time to get out of there.”

Gabriel looked a little surprised at that before he schooled his expression and thought about it.

“Well, it couldn’t hurt. And it would probably be prudent to find out if the person who brought me back did it for nefarious purposes or not.”

Sam and Dean both looked at each other, obviously communicating something wordlessly. Before the boys could continue on with this woefully serious conversation, Gabriel interrupted in his usual fashion. He popped party hats onto each of their heads, and clapped his hands together, confetti suddenly flying through the air from some unknown location.  

“First things first! Shall we start the welcoming party?” He asked excitedly, looking between the boys. “Oh, and where’s  _ my _ room?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Esoulix here! As a first note, I'd like to say that this chapter being so late was my fault, lol. Sorry about that, ya'll know how life is.
> 
> We were originally going to post a Cas-centric chapter written by moi here, but once it became apparent that it was going to be a long chapter, and writing it would take a while, we decided to post the chapter we DID have would be better, since, from a story standpoint, it didn't matter either way which one we posted first. So we figured that ya'll have waited long enough for the next chapter. And, as Xany said to me, it flows better.
> 
> Any Comments, Kudos, Bookmarks, Subscriptions, etc., etc., will be appreciated!


	7. The Cas Chapter (Or - And Onto Cas With The Weather)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cas reflects on everything that's happened since he Fell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know we said we'd probably not post anything until after NaNoWriMo was done, but since the Cas Chapter was a long time coming (seriously, it was supposed to be chapter 4) we wanted to post it. It's the longest chapter that we've done so far, so hopefully it's beautifulness will tide you over until we can clean up what we've written for NaNoWriMo. Esouix wrote this chapter and my Chuck she did an absolutely beautiful job of it :3 Give her lots of love peeps <3
> 
> As a side note: The characters literally ran away on us with the story. So far we have a couple extra chapters that we weren't expecting because various characters keep grabbing us by the hand and dragging us along. We had a 3 hour conversation today to try and fix our plot because one of the characters completely messed our plot line. (To which I will have a nice long rant about when we finally post that chapter :P ) 
> 
> Anyhoo - enough of my rambling - onto the story! :D
> 
> \- X

Consciousness came slowly for Castiel these days. He wasn't sure how his vessel had slept whilst human, the angel had not put much thought into human revigorating habits - _Rest, Cas. Just call it rest, buddy_ \- before. Not until now. Even that debilitating period four years past when he found himself losing time to ‘rest’ did he put much into it. Then, his descent into humanity had been slow. Gradual. He had time to adjust to his increasing need for sleep.

Now, however, humanity had hit him like a sledgehammer.

It felt like he was always sleeping, or eating, or using the restrooms.

Being human was so _inconvenient_. The need to urinate was annoying and sometimes painful, hunger was a special kind of torture Castiel wasn’t sure how humans endured, and sleep was disorienting and terrifying. The first time he had fallen asleep he experienced a nightmare.

Such an experience was not the best way to introduce him to the human sleeping cycle.

The second time Castiel fell asleep, he dreamed of Dean. The details were off, well into uncanny valley territory, and Cas was sure the kaleidoscopic experience was worse than the actual nightmare from the previous night. To make matters worse, when he awoke, he _missed Dean_.

Emotions were heady stuff for a recently fallen angel. Castiel knew that he loved Dean, far more than an angel should be able too, but _this_ … This was just preposterous. The feeling hurt more than an upset bladder, ached more keenly than an empty stomach, and burned more than torn skin. As a fallen angel, Castiel was far more aware of his soul than anything else on earth - and his soul was burning up like dry kindling in the desert.

It _hurt_ , this love.

Part of Castiel, newly human, in pain, confused and lost, wanted to _blame_ Dean, because of this love. This love was intense and all consuming and all together unpleasant. That was, of course, until Castiel finally managed to find a working pay phone and talked to Dean. The feeling that’d been just recently causing him so much pain unfurled, blossoming into a sweet balm of comfort and safety and -

And then they parted ways again, and the balm that so enveloped him with warmth turned sinister, burning and hurting and Cas just _wanted Dean back_ and then, impossibly…. _inevitably_ , just days? - weeks? - hours? - sometime later, there Dean was. Cradling his face and staring into his eyes, tearful and terrified and _so, so human_.

 _I love you_ , Castiel thought.

Dean berated Castiel for dying, for daring to scare Dean like that. ‘ _Never do that again!’_ The hunter yelled, voice breaking and he was so beautiful, so _Dean_ , Castiel adored him so much. His answer was automatic and reflexive.

‘ _Okay,_ ’ Cas had said, even though there was no guarantee, no way to ensure with one hundred percent certainty that he would never die like that again. Both knew just how impossible a guarantee was, but Dean drew comfort from the promise nevertheless.

Driving home in Baby was cathartic, although Castiel was settled into the backseat. He still got to watch Dean’s back muscles flex and his shoulder blades shift under skin so fragile, so mind-blowingly necessary to Castiel’s muster. Castiel fell asleep in the back seat.

For the briefest of moments, the world shifted back into place. Like an earthquake knocked Cas’ world upside down only to topple back into place. Cas’ existence was a little too much on the right side of reality, a little skewed and disorientating, but Dean was _there_ . Dean was _there_ \- **_alive_ ** \- and so Castiel could endure.

So much had happened in the past few weeks, Castiel had a hard time assimilating it all into his newly human mind. So much happened in the span of a few _hours_ it left the fallen angel a little dazed. He was grateful for the shower, and was surprised to experience the very human emotions of falling in love with very specific plumbing appliances.

He loved the Men of Letters showers.

Dean had a supply of off-brand burritos in the freezer, and Castiel indulged a bit. He took the last one. Sitting in the bunker with Dean and Sam, relaxed, hunger sated, clean, and warm… Castiel was more content than he’d been in years.

Then, because God obviously hated him, Dean kicked him out. _Cas… buddy, you can’t stay._ And just like that, Castiel was left directionless again. It _hurt_ . It hurt more than pining for Dean’s presence, more than anything he’d ever felt before, because _Dean didn’t want him_.

Dean promised to at least let Cas bunk down for the night, and the next morning, after he’d slept in the room next to Dean's, (just a hallway away from Sam’s room,) Dean got some food into Cas and lead him to the Impala. They didn’t talk as Dean took Cas to the nearest seedy motel past the Kansas border - speeding so intensely even Cas knew laws were being broken.

That Dean was in such a hurry to be rid of him chaffed.

Once they pulled into the motel, Dean reached around to the back seat. Cas realized for the first time that Dean had packed him a bag. All it had was a pair of clothes and some instructions on how to fake IDs and Social Security numbers, as well as some money, and a phone, but Cas appreciated the consideration nonetheless.

The only thing Cas had left of his previous ensemble was that fake FBI badge Dean gave him four years ago, when they hunted down Raphael. And since Dean no longer needed him, Cas could use any help he could get. Dean carried his new bag into the motel room after paying for the week, and paused at the doorway. A million words went unsaid in that short moment.

“You take care of yourself, Cas.” Dean finally spoke, “Call me every week. I’ve given you one of my spare phones - formatted and paid for, so you have no excuse to go radio silent on me.” There was a pause, more words unsaid. Then, softly, “I need to know you’re okay, Cas.”

Dean gave Cas a hug, holding fiercely if briefly, and then unthinkingly - naturally, reflexively - Dean gave him a kiss. It was chaste, featherlight, but it was there - there was no mistaking that. Cas stood frozen as Dean turned away. It took them both a few seconds to realize just what happened, but when they did…

Well… Winchesters were known for more than just hunting. Dean fumbled getting out an apology, before announcing that it didn’t happen and nodding decisively to himself. And then he was gone.

Cas found work in Idaho, two states southwest, over 1,100 miles away from home… but he found work, a local Gas’n’Sip that didn’t bother to ask too many questions.

His boss, Norah, was nice. A little naive, perhaps too trusting, but still nice. Castiel kept his Gas’n’Sip tidy and working like Baby. He and Norah didn’t talk much - there wasn’t much to say. Castiel’s life, in the past five years, had revolved around Dean. Whatever Dean had needed, he did his best to provide.

And now, effectively homeless in a way he’d never been before -- _(Dean didn’t want him didn’t need him now that he was human)_ \-- Castiel had nothing. Every night, he curled up in the storage room, and after a few weeks he assimilated enough money to get a sleeping bag on top of that. He invested in a couple of pillows as well, piling them together to provide cushioning for his back. Apparently, humans needed that.

Falling into routine was surprisingly easy to do. Being human was hard, yes, but at the same time it was very pattern based. Patterns were easy to follow once he knew what they were.

Humans were creatures of habit, he was finding.

In his free time, (and there was a lot of that working in a gas station cum convenience store,) he perused the newspaper, mostly out of boredom. Another reason he read the news was for something to talk about. His weekly check-ins with Dean were filled, mostly, with a confirmation that he was okay, and that Dean was still alive.

Otherwise, he and Dean didn't talk. Informing Dean of a hunt would - at the very least - provide reprieve from the awkward silences.

It was a boring Thursday morning when Castiel found what seemed to be a hunt. Usually his check-ins occurred on Friday, but with two people already dead, Castiel justified calling Dean a day early.

The call with Dean hadn’t necessarily gone well. That damn Slushy machine had started acting up again in the middle of the conversation. Though, it was still nice to hear Dean’s voice. Even if it was all business.

Seeing Dean again was bittersweet. It hurt so much knowing that he didn’t want him, that he had regretted that small, chaste kiss so much. So much so that Dean was practically throwing him at Norah to get him out of his hair. Not that Norah wasn’t a beautiful woman or that she was at all not attractive. He _had_ accepted (what he thought was at the time) a date with her in the first place. But still, Castiel found himself almost hoping that Dean would try and stop him, especially after the debacle with April.

But no. Dean was so eager to get rid of Castiel that he was throwing him at other people. Not that he could blame him. Castiel had pretty royally screwed everything up - being so weak and so eager to fix his mess with the Leviathans that he fell for Metatron’s trick, and then not being there for Dean when he and Sam needed him most. Castiel knew well and true that Dean’s first and foremost priority was, and always would be, Sam. It was no wonder that Dean wanted him gone after not being able to heal Sam.

To be honest, Castiel was just a little relieved when it turned out that Norah just wanted a babysitter. Castiel was still way too new at human interactions to feel _wholly_ comfortable with beginning a romantic one. Especially one that could jeopardize his only means of obtaining money.

The hunt itself was both heartbreaking and terrifying. Ephraim picking up on his own heartache was terrifying to say the least. Though Ephraim thought it had more to do with his guilt over making the angels fall and his struggles with reconciling no longer having his Grace, than it did with being so hurt over Dean’s rejection.

Dean, of course, got out of there quick as lightening once the action was over. Cas was was just lamenting the long walk back to the gas station when Dean pulled up with an excitable grin and a wave to get in the passenger seat.

As usual, Cas caved when it came to what Dean wanted, and slipped in Sam's seat with a small smile. “Dean.” He said, eyes brighter than they'd been in weeks.

“Hey, Cas.” Dean replied with a shit-eating grin, “I got a surprise for you.” Dean did that weird thing where he tapped and drummed Baby's wheel and bobbed his head up and down. Castiel had long since learned that this meant Dean was practically bursting with anticipation.

If Dean was anything at all, (and he was many things,) he was infectious. They chatted as Dean navigated the maze of the small Idaho town Castiel found work in. Well, _Dean_ chatted, gesturing wildly with one hand as he embellished tales of hunts and travels. One time, he even steered with his knees as he mimed a ghost ladies death. Castiel, on the other hand, was more than content to just sit and watch Dean and listen to his animatedly-told stories. He smiled that small smile that apparently was reserved for Dean alone.

It seemed as though that night, and that kiss, had never happened. To which Castiel wasn’t surprised. It was the old Winchester standby after all; to ignore, and repress, and pretend it didn’t happen.

Castiel was happy enough to follow suit of course, if it meant that Dean kept that smile on his face. If it meant that Dean would talk to him, laugh with him, and spend time with him, then Castiel would gladly pretend that he wasn’t hurt, that he was okay, that he was adjusting to this life, and that the kiss hadn’t kept him up late at night wondering.

Castiel was surprised to find out that Dean had booked a two bed motel room - apparently out of habit, if you believed Dean (Cas didn’t) - and had an extra mattress he didn’t want to ‘waste’. As Dean shouldered his way into the room, he gave Cas one of those wide, little-boy-excited smiles Cas was sometimes treated to when Dean was alone with him.

Dean had shared that smile with Sam in the past - when they were unmarred by time and tragedy, with far less scars and reasons to cry - but too many rolled eyes and exhausted sighs had chipped the smile away bit by bit. And while Sam never intended to erase that smile with any of those actions, and never wanted to lose that part of Dean, the fact remained that Dean grew uncomfortable over time.

Dean still smiled like that sometimes with Sam, and in the more recent years rolled eyes and sighs were replaced with a fond shake of the head and a huff of laughter, but it would take time for Dean to fully realize that Sam didn’t find his small excitements annoying.

With Cas, however, that wasn’t a problem. It would never _be_ a problem either, because Castiel didn’t think he would ever stop loving those smiles. He didn’t think there was a universe anywhere in which he _didn’t_ love those smiles. He didn’t think he could _not_ love those smiles.

He was sure such a smile was the thing that made him realize that his feelings for Dean exceeded pure profound bond and well into personal infatuation. He just _loved_ that smile.

Which, admittedly, was why Dean needed to repeat his enquiry on food preferences. Dean's smile turned bemused, but Castiel shook his head and claimed he held no preferences. Dean ended up ordering out burgers and fries, falling back on his age old favourite when in doubt. They sat and talked, content but ignoring the ‘elephant in the room’ that was in the form of Castiel's homelessness - spiritually and physically.

Castiel had known, the instant he had burst through the border between Hell and Earth, that he and Dean were bound. Which was why he had volunteered to be the ambassador between Heaven and the Righteous Man. (Retrospectively, that was the first clue in about his impending Fall, the reason why he'd been held on such a short leash during the beginning days of the Apocalypse.) He knew from the moment he first looked Dean in the eyes that he would always cave to Dean's wishes.

He'd fought it, of course. That instinctual pull insistently stretching his Grace in the direction of Dean's soul, but it was too strong. It didn't help that - intentionally or not - Dean kept _tugging_ and _prodding_ that bond. It wasn't until after the Apocalypse had come to an abrupt halt that Castiel realized that Dean genuinely didn't know what was going on.

There Dean was, tearing Castiel apart, and the man didn't even realize he was doing it. Even as an Angel, Cas wanted to resent Dean for it. But he also _knew_ that Dean would never consciously hurt someone he loved, and there was no mistaking that Dean did in fact love Castiel.

It took Castiel a long time to come to terms with Dean's way of expressing that love. It took an even longer time for Cas to figure out an acceptable way to express his own love back. Dean kissing him, however, threw all of that in the air. With the romantic connotations of the action, and Dean's insistence that it never happened, Castiel wasn't sure how he was supposed to go about opening such an obviously sore subject for Dean.

In the end, neither of them brought up the kiss. Cas spent the night, content in falling asleep to the sound of Dean's breathing.

 

Wakefulness came slowly for Castiel the next morning. He played with consciousness like one would play hard to get - in, and out, slowly approaching the end goal. Distantly he was aware of Dean rummaging around the room, doing whatever it was Dean did in the early hours of the day. His dreams were blurry and disjointed, leaping from one subject to another before an idea could even finish forming. Dean's presence calmed the kaleidoscope nature of Castiel's dreams.

Before, Castiels dreams were very much like watching two hundred episodes of _Game of Thrones_ at the same time. Now, it was more like switching between two episodes every three minutes or so. Needless to say, it was a large improvement.

Castiel slept in until 10am.

Dean woke him up wearing a huge grin and holding a fresh cup of coffee. “Morning, Sunshine! Coffee?” Dean wiggled the cup in Cas’ face, wafting up the incredible aroma straight into Cas’ nose. Castiel's mouth watered.

“Please.” Cas said, reaching for the cup while throwing off the covers. Dean raised a brow at Cas’ pj’s,  an amused smirk twitching at his lips.

Castiel had bought a royal blue tank top a few weeks back,  and wore it to bed most nights. What Dean found amusing about a tank top confused Castiel. It was just sleepwear.

Dean snorted,  a pink dusting of embarrassment creeping up to his ears.  “Nice wife beater,  Cas.“ Dean said with a small laugh.

Further confused,  Castiel glanced down.   _Wife beater?_ He wondered.

Seeing Castiels confusion,  Dean went to explain.  “Your shirt, Cas.”

Castiel echoed the words to himself as he looked down at his tank top,  trying to piece together just why Dean called it that.

Feeling a little embarrassed at starting out the morning on such an offbeat note,  Dean tried to explain.  “Wife beater,  Cas.  Tha-that’s what they call those shirts.”

Even more confused,  Castiel stared at Dean.

“I-I think they call it that because of the old white-trash stereotype -  y'know, that men that wear those shirts beat their wives.”

With dawning horror,  Castiel slowly dragged his eyes down to his shirt. A shiver of revulsion shook his spine, with the same amount of disgust one of have after walking through a spiderweb.

Dean was halfway through a sip of coffee when Castiel tore the tank top off,  leaving the fallen angel panting and wearing nothing but his boxers. Dean choked,  snorting coffee up his nose as he coughed violently.

“ _Jesus,_ Cas!”

 

-

 

Cas was still hungry after Dean gave his muffin. Looking at the time, Dean grimaced and instructed Castiel to wash up so they could go get ‘some grub’. Cas was still trying to figure out why Dean felt so obviously uncomfortable with Cas’ state of undress earlier that morning.

When Cas was finished with his shower, he dressed in some clothes Dean left for him and flopped onto his bed. Dean was still out, having retreated once Castiel slipped into the shower.  The showers in this motel weren’t on par with the ones at the Men of Letters bunker,  but they were better than the ‘whores bath’ he was accustomed to at the gas station.

Castiel missed the Men of Letters’ showers. Their water pressure was marvelous,  and on top of that he had been living with Dean and Sam.

Castiel fell into a light doze while waiting for Dean to return.

Dean came back while wearing that shit-eating little-boy grin from yesterday, practically bouncing on his toes as he poked his head around the separation.  “Ready?” Dean asked with a grin. Castiel nodded with a bemused smile of his own.

The leather seating of Dean’s Baby never ceased to bring comfort to Cas - even during the horrible revelation that Ephraim was behind the killings in the town,  Cas found comfort in the Impala.  She had protected their boys for decades,  and Castiel knew that she would protect their boys for decades more.

Riding in Baby while Dean was at the wheel, talking a mile a minute?

Castiel knew it would be one of the scenes in his Heaven,  should he make it there. It was such a happy feeling,  sitting shotgun to Dean Winchester, his best friend,  his charge, his reason for falling, while Dean was driving in his home, comfortable enough to babble about whatever came to mind.

Dean brought him to one of the better diners in town, and once they finished eating he insisted on paying. Afterwards Dean drove them around town aimlessly -  procrastinating Dean’s inevitable departure, no doubt - talking about a girl Dean had known for the past few years.

Charlie Bradbury was an ingenious young lady who had effortlessly wormed her way into Dean’s heart. Currently she resided in the dimension of Oz, adventuring with Dorothy and trying to save the parallel kingdom from chaos. Dean spoke highly of her, telling Castiel of their adventures and gushing about how brilliant Charlie was.

At first,  Castiel thought that Charlie had won Dean’s heart -  but then Dean revealed that the girl was a lesbian while laughing about walking in while Charlie was romancing one of the High Fae. Gilda.

Castiel smiled in relief, turning back to Dean from where the man was looking out the window in disappointment. The boa constrictor’s hold on his heart loosened a little. “Gilda and Dorothy.” He said with curiosity. “Why does that sound familiar?”

Dean nearly hit the breaks laughing. “They’re characters in a book -  Wizard of Oz.”

“The World of Oz is documented?” Castiel asked.

Dean shook his head with a small smile,  turning into the parking lot of an apartment building.  Castiel glanced around, confused as Dean continued on. “Sort of. Dorothy’s dad wrote a book based off of Dorothy’s time in Oz, although with many, many things omitted and edited to make it safe to share with the public. The Men of Letters’ archives have some information on the dimension, but not much. Apparently a lot of the people who went to Oz either died there or didn’t want to come back.”

Dean shook his head as he parked.  “I don’t blame them,  to be honest. This world is really fucked up.”

Castiel smiled at Dean as Dean switched into park. He was still smiling as they left the car and turned to the stairs. “With _The Next Top Model_ changing showrunners,  I wouldn’t want to return either.” Dean joked with a smile and a waggle of his eyebrows

Cas thanked Dean as he walked through the door that was held open for him,  glancing around as he tried to figure out who they were visiting. Maybe Charlie? But wasn’t she still in Oz? Dean hadn’t mentioned her return from the dimension when talking about her,  so it didn’t make any sense.

Dean changed topics to the safe houses he and Sam had sprinkled across the country. Most were apartments or log cabins, some were residences that they had inherited from Bobby when the old drunk had died. “When Charlie left for her adventuring,” Dean said as they waited for the elevator. “She left us with her apartment. We’ve checked in a couple times to pay the rent,  but mostly we don’t come in the area that much and leave it alone.”

Dean flashed him that excited little-boy smile again. Cas was seeing it a lot these past few days. He wondered what was on Dean’s mind that had him so excited.

“So, remember how I said that I have a surprise for you?” Dean asked.

Castiel nodded, still confused. “I was under the impression that the motel room and food _were_ the surprise.” He said, only to feel a little guilty as Dean’s face fell.

“No, dude.” Dean said with a sigh as they left the elevator. They were on the top floor. “That was just me biding time til the surprise was ready.”

Castiel tilted his head at Dean. “What was the surprise, then?” He asked.

Apparently this was the right thing to say as Dean’s smile returned full throttle. “C’mon, I’ll show you.” Dean grabbed Castiel’s elbow and dragged them towards the end of the hall. They stopped in front of a door - _808_ \- and Dean pulled out a key,  dangling it in front of Cas’s nose. Castiel went cross-eyed trying to focus on them.

“Well?” Dean asked expectantly. “Aren’t you going to take them?”

Slowly coming to the realization that Dean was _giving_ him an apartment,  Castiel held out a palm for Dean to drop the keys in. A tiny, hesitant smile worked It’s way onto his lips. “Dean - “ He started, planning on making sure that he wouldn’t be a burden with the decision.

“Don’t worry,  Cas,  we’ve got it covered. It’s been collecting dust anyways, Sam and I don’t use it enough and you would make sure that Charlie doesn’t come home to an inch of dust.” Dean gave Cas a little shove, and in his shock, Castiel stumbled forward.

Glancing at Dean again to make sure this wasn’t a completely inappropriate joke,  Castiel slid the key into the doorknob and turned. With a satisfying _click_ the door opened, and with little fanfare the duo walked in. Dean was right. There was a layer of dust covering _everything_.

That wasn’t the thing that caught Castiel’s eye, however. He was stuck on the carefully arranged couch pillows in front of the television, artfully positioned to resemble a small house.

It looked really comfortable. Cas could imagine curling up while watching a few of the talk shows he’d become fond of while working at the Gas’n’Sip. A wide smile formed on his face, and he was only vaguely aware of Dean’s exasperated, _‘Charlie!_ ’ from behind him as he rushed to the pillow construct excitedly.

Behind him, still lamenting the sheer amount of _dust_ that had accumulated in Charlie’s absence, Dean’s expression changed from exasperation to reluctant fondness as he watched Cas marvel at Charlie’s pillow fort. He supposed that it was just as well that Cas would share Charlie’s fondness of pillow forts.

Dean would have to dust the place before he left. Maybe buy some cleaning supplies... Stock the fridge… As Castiel poked and prodded the pillow fort, Dean made a mental list in his head about the things he needed to do before he left. _Shit_ , Dean thought,as he remembered Cas’ comment on his clothes when they were prepping Cas for his date with Norah. _Cas needs some clothes, too…_

By the time Cas finished marvelling at Charlie's pillow fort Dean was on fall-out ‘Hen-Mode’, examining the windows and the doors and the heating and the electricity. Cas crawled from under the pillow fort and found Dean muttering at the windows, fiddling with the locks and scolding Charlie under his breath. Cas’ expression turned unbearably _fond_ as Dean tightened some screws with the Swiss Army knife he kept on himself at all times.

Dean jumped when Castiel cleared his throat, blushing at the expression on Cas’ face. “ _Thank_ you, Dean.” Cas said. “This is more than enough.”

Dean cleared his throat, trying to hide his blush by turning and tightening on the last screw. “I didn’t check the place out earlier, so it’ll take me a day or so to get this place into living condition. Charlie forgot to ward this place while moving in. Rookie mistake.” He explained while fiddling with his Swiss Army knife. He wouldn’t look Cas in the eye for fear of seeing that gut wrenching expression of fondness that made him feel unbelievably _guilty_ about abandoning Cas in the first place.

This was the _least_ he could do to make it up to Cas. Hell, if he wasn’t sure Cas would put up a major fight, he would probably have done so much more in terms of setting Cas up in Charlie's apartment. If he’d have the time, resources and permission to, he’d probably ward and refurbish the entire apartment complex to suit Castiel’s needs.

But he had none of those, so he couldn’t do any of that

“That’s fine, Dean.” Cas reassured, walking forward to rest a hand on Dean’s right shoulder, near where Cas had marked Dean as his charge all those years ago. Dean looked up, breath held in restrained reverence at the reminder of what they used to have. “I’m very capable of warding this place myself. Now that I don’t have to worry about money for another month - and I’m sure you made a point of paying for the rent, because that’s who you are - now that I have extra money I can take care of this apartment and myself.” Cas smiled. “I’ll be fine, Dean.”

Dean’s hand didn’t shake when he placed it on top of Cas’, nor did it when he pulled Cas’ hand off of his shoulder, but it did shake a little when he didn’t let go. Castiel held his breath, mimicking Dean’s earlier reaction to the very human variation of reverence of something that didn’t last forever. Time stopped in that moment. Or rather, Dean and Cas desperately wished for time to stop, and the world slowed just a little as both gathered their bearings.

With a steadying sigh, Dean let go.

“If you’re sure…” Dean said, _Please understand._

“I am sure, Dean.” Cas said, _I know,_ _Dean_. He patted Dean’s arm as Dean stepped back. They studied each other for a long moment, trying to assess whether or not their messages got through, before Dean looked away, turning towards the door. “Thanks again,” Cas said in lieu of farewell. “For everything.”

Dean gave him a feeble smile.

For now, that had to be enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn this chapter was a doozy! When Xany brought the idea of a Cas chapter to me I jumped on it! I'm 100% on board for any Cas-love! By Chuck's bathrobe, though, it was SO HARD TO WRITE.
> 
> When settling down to write this chapter I had maybe 2 or 3 things I wanted to establish by the end - Cas in Idaho, Cas lovesick, and Cas alone. Unfortunately for all of us there were like 25 other things that snuck in there between the main points I wanted to emphasize.
> 
> I had to go back multiple times to ensure I didn't contradict myself with the Dean Chapter.
> 
> While I wrote like 80%-90% of this chapter, let it never be said that Xany didn't write, edit, revise, and push me off a cliff in order to force me to open docs <3
> 
> We've got a couple more chapters in the works as we speak, but my Dad fell very ill a while back and we're a abouts a week behind schedule because of that and other 'Life' problems.
> 
> Please remember to leave kudos and comments for us! Any subscriptions, bookmarks, etc would also be appreciated as well. Any feedback helps oil the cogs of our writing machines, so more feedback=more efficient chapter production=better quality/larger quantity chapters! ;)


	8. The One Where Gabriel Throws His Own Welcome Party (Or "Thanks Cas! And Back To You Gabe!")

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel throws himself an impromptu welcome party, Dean eats a lot of pie, and Sam talks to a wood nymph about gender and sexuality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ello again! NaNoWriMo is finished! And.... We didn't meet the quota :( 
> 
> Between things getting crazy at my work, and Esoulix' and her dad (see endnote for more on that), and just general real life ganging up on us - we ended up losing a lot of days of writing. We made it to 30,000 words though! So I think we did pretty decent all things considered. And we worked out a lot of plot related things so I'm happy with our progress :) 
> 
> So, the characters like to take over the story frequently. We hadn't planned on this chapter happening but Gabe kind of just decided to just do his own thing, and I wanted to keep it because it's rare that our boys get to relax and laugh and have fun. 
> 
> Enjoy it while you can ;)
> 
> -X

“Dammit Gabe!” Dean swore, “I  _ just _ finished ridding myself of glitter, too!”

Gabriel cackled, and ran off. Sam and Dean exchanged startled looks and ran after him.  _ Oh this cannot be good, _ Sam thought.  _ Fucking hell, there’s going to be glitter and confetti all over the bunker for  _ **_weeks_ ** _! And I  _ **_just_ ** _ got everything nice and clean too, _ Dean thought, grumbling.

Sam and Dean found Gabriel in the War Room.

Throwing the biggest rager that they had ever seen. 

There were girls in cages hanging from the ceiling dancing, a DJ by the front door, and scantily clad people (men, women, and Sam  _ swears _ he saw an honest to God  **wood nymph** in there…) dancing all over the place, and on the war room table? The biggest fucking cake Sam or Dean had ever seen. Seriously, it rivalled the wedding cakes of superstars and royalty. Sam would have been throwing a fit, but it seems that despite the number of people (beings?), they were all being respectful of the space. The books were untouched, and they were actually cleaning up after themselves. There were garbage cans and recycling bins scattered about...and people  _ were actually using them _ . 

Dean on the other hand, looked as though he was about to burst. His face was a bright red with anger and he was shaking. Sam was actually a little bit concerned that Dean might burst an artery or something. It’d been awhile since he’d seen Dean like this, and Dean wasn’t exactly young anymore…

“Dean. Dean, breathe. J-just, calm down a sec, okay?” Sam tried to placate him, and put a hand on his shoulder in case he did anything brash. “J-just take a second to look around,  _ they aren’t doing any harm to the bunker. _ Look,” He said, putting both hands on Dean’s shoulders and turning him to face one of the garbage/recycling sites to see that people were actually using them, and then turning him again to face were the books were to show him that they were untouched and safe.

Dean seemed to calm down a bit. Or, rather, at least he didn’t look like he was about to either pass out, or starting throwing punches. Instead, he yelled, “GABRIEL!!!” 

Gabriel popped in front of them cheerfully, party hat still on his head, confetti littering his hair and shoulders, and he had apparently decided that ‘welcome party’ equalled ‘toga party’, because that was exactly what he was wearing. Sam tried desperately  _ not _ to wonder if the trickster was wearing anything underneath.

Gabriel waggled his eyebrows. “Like it? One of the better welcome party’s I’ve thrown,” he said proudly, turning to scan the crowd. “And don’t worry,” He continued turning back to the brothers with a roll of his eyes. “It will be done before midnight, and the place with be spotless once it’s done. I remember the conditions upon me staying here.” He said exasperatedly. 

Dean seemed to accept this with reluctance, before straightening his back and narrowing his eyes at the trickster. “What about our security? You have all these people here and now they all know our location!” 

“Oh hush, big guy. I’m not  _ that _ stupid. More than half of these guys are playthings of my own creation, and the rest? I can easily wipe their memories. That’s even if they figure out where we are. Most of them know that I have all over the place, and I’ve thrown ‘welcome’ and ‘housewarming’ parties before. They know the drill. They breathe a word about my existence or location to anybody, and they’re in for a  _ world _ of hurt.” Gabriel responded, waving away Dean’s concern.

Dean didn’t look at all reassured by this. “Look, if it makes you feel better I’ll wipe their memories anyway, okay?” Gabriel said, looking annoyed at the inconvenience.

Dean huffed, “Fine, but if they drink any of our good stuff, you’re replacing it all.” He said jabbing a finger at Gabriel.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Like you have any good stuff anyway. But yeah, whatever, I broke it, I bought it, anything missing or broken will be replace by your lovely moi. Now that that’s settled, how about you get your panties out of a twist and go join the festivities. Dad knows that you guys haven’t taken a break in forever, go enjoy yourselves for once!” He said, appearing behind the brothers and pushing them into the crowd.

Sam and Dean looked at each other. It was true. They hadn’t taken an honest-to-goodness break in a while. There was that time with Charlie, and watching Game of Thrones together, but that had been interrupted by the whole Wicked Witch thing. They shrugged, wordlessly agreeing to take Gabe’s advice and to enjoy themselves for a few hours. It’s not like they had an active case going at the moment, and they were in the safest place in America, so they could afford to relax for a bit. 

So, they relaxed, and scanned the crowd, taking in the party. Dean’s eyes settled on the cake, before looking down at the rest of the table, realizing there were other desserts and sweets surrounding the cake. “Dude, look Sam! Pie!” He enthused, smacking Sam in the gut. Sam huffed, and watched Dean hurry over to the table with a fond look in his eyes.

 

 

It turned out that Gabriel was true to his word. The party ended promptly at midnight, the place was left  _ cleaner _ than it had been before the party (much to Dean’s chagrin - he took pride in his cleaning abilities), and all of those that were real sentient beings had their memories wiped of the evening. Which was a shame really, that really had been a wood nymph, and Sam had enjoyed talking to her.

Once she had slowed down long enough to realize that he really did just want to talk and wasn’t chasing her for sex, like most mortal men did. She had been around since the height of the Greek Empire, and had many stories to tell, and very strong opinions on gender norms, orientation, and acceptance, which Sam found intriguing since she didn’t have to be apart of the human society if she didn’t want to. 

“That matters not,” she had said acidly, “souls are souls, what that person identifies as shouldn’t matter. You humans only really care about a person’s gender because your species as a whole is ridiculously sexual, and insists on making everything about sex.”

Sam smirked a little at that, “you know what humans call someone who has an unusually high and insatiable libido, don’t you?” 

She huffed, “Of course I do,” and then she seemed to deflate a little, “and I would take more offense to it if it there wasn’t so much truth to it.” She straightened her back again. “But sex is more than just physical gratification for us. It’s a means of communication, of expressing affection and bonding. With humans it’s all sweaty, grinding and mashing together of flesh,” she finished her rant with an adorable crinkle of her tiny nose. 

Sam nodded a bit in acknowledgement, “For many it is, but for a lot of people it isn’t. Take those who are demi-sexuals for example. People who identify as demisexual only feel sexual attraction to someone that they’ve gotten to know first. And then there are those who feel that sex is something that’s sacred, something that shouldn’t be had with just anybody. And of course, those who do have lots of sex, it’s not always just about getting themselves off, in many cases it’s about just appreciating the human body, and the soul within. We’re a varied and dynamic species, it’s not always the same for everyone.” 

The wood nymph looked thoughtful at that. “You know, I’ve never just sat and had an in depth conversation with a human about these things before,” she hummed. “You have given me much to think about.”

Sam smiled, “I’m glad, and you have given me much to think of as well. I enjoy learning about the lives of others.” She smiled softly, “well thank you, Samuel Winchester. Hopefully one day we shall meet and chat again.” Before Sam could blink, she had melted into the crowd and he didn’t find her again that night. Shortly after, he realized that she’d known his name, despite the fact that they had never actually exchanged names during their conversation.

 

Dean had also had a wonderful time, he found that he could eat as much pie as he wanted without ever feeling full! And there were so many different flavours to try. On his tenth sample, he realized that Gabe had probably planned that so he could get on Dean’s good side. Dean moaned into a warm slice of what tasted like apples, pears, and cinnamon.  _ Oh, if this is his way of bribing his way into my good graces, then fuck yeah. This pie is definitely going on my top ten list. _

Dean startled slightly as the toga-toting trickster (say that ten times fast) popped next to him on the table, swinging his feet lightly. “So,” Gabe smirked, “enjoyed the wide selection of my cooking skills?” 

Dean gaped for a moment and stared at all of the pies, cakes, and other sweets on the table. “ _ You _ made all this?” 

Gabriel looked mildly put out. “Don’t sound  _ so _ surprised. I like cooking, I find it relaxing. And why not learn how to cook what I like to eat most?”

Dean shook his head. “It’s not so much that I’m surprised that you can cook, hell you’ve been around so long I’d be more surprised if you couldn’t. What’s getting me is that you literally had like  _ two _ seconds in between leaving the kitchen and putting this together, and this shit’s all still fresh!”

Gabriel’s smirk returned, and he gestured to himself, “Hel-lo. Trickster! What part of reality manipulation and time travel did you not understand?”

Dean rolled his eyes, but a faint blush rose to his cheeks in slight embarrassment at forgetting about that for a moment. Fortunately, it was warm enough in here with all these bodies around that he was sure that he could blame it on that if pressed.

Gabriel’s smirked softened into a smile. “You didn’t answer my question. Are you enjoying them?” If Dean didn’t know any better, he’d swear that Gabe looked a little nervous.

“Yeah man,” He enthused around another mouthful of pie, “this stuff's amazing. I’ve tried half the pies already, and all of them so far have made my top fifty and at least half of those have wormed their way into my top ten.” He swallowed his bite and grinned widely at the Trickster. 

Gabriel grinned. “Great! Let me know which ones are your favourites, and maybe during my time here I’ll make you some for dessert after dinner.”

Dean waggled his fork at Gabriel, “Careful, you keep that up, we might never let you leave.”

Gabriel smirked, “Awe, you’re just adorable when you think you can best me.”

“Oh, I’m sure we could find some way. We’ve got a dungeon now, with some fancy looking cuffs.” Dean joked with a wink.

Gabriel laughed. “Well I guess I should best stay on your good sides so you boys don’t see a need to find a way.” He raised an eyebrow after a moment’s thought. “Wait, a dungeon? With fancy cuffs? When’d you boys get so kinky?” 

Dean laughed, “Blame the old guys that came before us. Seriously, there are some messed up spellbooks in this place. I didn’t even  _ know _ there were that many spells that required sex or sex fluids to power them.” He shuddered slightly as he recalled one that was particularly messed up; it had required the first seed of a male who had just reached manhood. Considering that many boys hit that point between ten and thirteen, Dean had found that just downright disturbing. At least it was in their hands now, and not in the hands of some sicko witch, and would never be used again if Dean had anything to say about it.

“Yeah, and they didn’t seem to care too much about keeping the place organized did they? You know, I found two other fuck-or-die spells in that closet you were organizing?” Gabriel said conversationally, leaning back on his hands, legs still swinging back and forth, as though he were talking about a football game or something.

Dean choked on his pie. He had to hit his chest a few times to dislodge a particularly large piece of apple. “Shit, really??” He gaped at Gabriel. “Fuck. Well, I guess I owe even more thanks.” He mumbled reluctantly.

Gabriel just smirked. “Eh, you would’ve been fine with those other two. They were meant for hetero couples so finding a hooker would have been good enough to deal with it.”

Dean stared at Gabriel. “Wait, what was the first one then? Or do I even want to know?”

Gabriel grinned evilly. “Probably not,” He said, still swinging his legs back and forth. “But basically, if you had inhaled, ingested, or gotten any of that powder on your skin, you would have needed to have sex with the nearest person almost continuously for three days, and self-pleasure wouldn’t have cut it, in fact that would have made it worse. I think it was made as a distractionary tool for a witch’s quick getaway needs.”

Dean paled. He was well aware that the nearest person for miles would have been Sam. “ _ Fuck _ ,” he breathed. Gabriel’s grin grew, “Precisely.” Dean put down his pie, having suddenly lost his appetite and was in desperate need for a drink. Gabriel snapped, and there was a tumbler of whiskey in Dean’s hand, which he promptly knocked back. Gabriel snapped again and it was refilled.

“Sorry,” Gabriel said, looking slightly rueful. “Guess I’ve gone and ruined your party vibe haven’t I?” 

Dean waved him off, “Meh, another couple of these and I’ll be good to go again.” He looked around, taking in the party, which he had mostly forgot about in favor for pie. “You actually throw a pretty decent party,” he remarked.

Gabriel huffed. “Of course I do. I’m Loki, I’ve been around for millennia. Of course I know what makes for a good party,” he said, a bit defensively.

Dean through his hands up in surrender. “Hey alright, I didn’t mean anything by it, was just commenting. I mean, I don’t think I’ve been to a party since Sam’s Stanford days. Just, haven’t really had the time, you know?” He said, shrugging a little.

Gabriel relaxed, and grinned at him. “Yeah, well, there ain’t no party like a Trickster party,” he sang, waggling his eyebrows. Dean barked out a laugh at that and shook his head. 

Sam wandered over at this point, having finally given up on catching that wood nymph again. “Hey, what’s going on over here?” he asked with a carefree smile on his face, his dimples as prominent as ever. Dean’s heart soared at seeing that smile again.  _ Maybe Gabe might of had it right that we needed to relax. It’s been too long since I’ve seen that smile.  _ Dean thought.

“Oh nothing, just catching up on how kinky you boys have gotten since I last saw you. What? The holy oil wasn’t enough?” Gabriel said, eyes twinkling in mischief.

Sam sputtered. “W-what?!” He looked at Dean with wide eyes, hoping that he could provide him with an explanation.

Dean couldn’t help himself. It was just too good of an opportunity to mess with his little brother. “Oh you know, the nightly forays in the dungeon? How we have to schedule days to see which of us gets to use it, and when? You know the whole reason we told Kevin to stay away from there?” He said with a similar glint his eyes.

Sam was sputtering continuously at this point. “W-wha? N-n-no! B-but! Crowley’s down there!” He finally managed to get out.

“Oooh, getting kinky with the King of Hell eh?” Gabriel cooed, waggling his eyebrows.

Sam’s face was too much. Dean couldn’t keep a straight face anymore. He burst out laughing, bending over holding his sides as the contents of his tumbler splashed onto the floor. Gabriel was in a similar state, only he was tipped over sideways from his seat on the table.

Sam’s face settled from shocked and disturbed into one of his many bitchfaces, the one that was tempered a bit with fondness and affection at Dean laughing. Soon enough though, even Sam couldn’t keep up the act, and he started laughing right along with them.

Kevin chose this moment to pop up, having been disturbed from his translating by the noise of the party. He stood stock still at the sight in front of him, as though he was trying to comprehend exactly what he was seeing. He rubbed at his eyes, and blinked a few times before finally seeing Sam, Dean, and Gabriel, bent over laughing. The trio noticed him at the same time, as well as the look on his face, and apparently it was too much for them because it threw them into renewed gales of laughter, sending Sam and Dean to the floor, trying to catch their breaths. 

“Uhhh, I take it a missed something.” Kevin said, watching Sam and Dean as they literally rolled on the floor laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So normally, I leave the endnote for Esoulix to say her bit, but this month is a bit hard for her - despite general well wishes, her dad passed away this past week, so as such we'll be taking a bit of a hiatus as she goes through this process of bereavement. We do have a few more chapters already written up and I may clean those up and post them if there's a desire for them, but don't expect much for the next few weeks.  
> We had intended to get this out much sooner so below is part of her endnote from before real life took over.
> 
> Loves,  
> X
> 
> \--------------------------------
> 
> On a less morbid note, thanks to all who commented on my chapter! I was beginning to think that maybe my writing style didn't fit with this fic, and your comments were encouraging. Sorry if I haven't been able to reply. As it is, Xany and I are thinking that every few chapters or so I do what we fondly call an exclusive chapter focusing on my specialty, as in Cas, Dean, and/or Charlie. 
> 
> Remember that comments, kudos, etc really help us write, so please leave your love lest we get discouraged ;P
> 
> -E


	9. The One Where Kevin Commandeers The Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel gets parental, Kevin gets angry, Dean is nesting, and Sam finally has somewhere to start in researching how Gabriel was resurrected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Kevin just kind of came out of nowhere and took over this chapter. Apparently he'd like a little more screentime :P Not that I'm complaining or anything. I love Kevin <3 But yeah, this chapter was not at all planned for. I love it when characters take a life of their own - even if it means scrambling to try and fit it into the plot :P
> 
> We have another 4 chapters written up and are in the process of editting. :) Hope you're all still enjoying what we're putting out <3
> 
> Love y'all!  
> X

After Gabriel’s ridiculous impromptu welcome party, a quick introduction between Gabriel and Kevin (who was as curt as ever, the kid didn’t even stick around for the party after he’d stumbled in on it.  _ Kiddo needs to take more breaks, or he’s gonna go crazy,  _ Gabriel thought, as Kevin hobbled his way back to whatever room he had holed himself up in for privacy these days.  _ Although, all the prophets have been crazy in some form or another, so it wouldn’t be entirely unusual, _ Gabriel added as an afterthought.  _ Still. The kid’s so young _ ), and an extremely thorough inspection of the cleanliness of the bunker post-party on Dean’s part, Sam began researching.

He started off looking for any signs of Trickster activity within the last two to three weeks. Starting from the Elysian Fields Hotel, and working his way out, figuring the site of where Gabriel had died was as good a place to start as any, since they didn’t have any other place to start at.

Of course, it had turned up fruitless. Sam hadn’t really expected otherwise.  From what Gabriel said he wasn’t very aware at the beginning.  So looking for the usual signs of the Trickster would effectively be pointless.  But they were starting with a blank slate here,  and Sam had hoped that  _ maybe _ somebody had at least seen something unusual. 

So,  when nothing turned up, Sam decided to try a different route.  He started looking up unexplained sightings near religious sites. Maybe whoever brought Gabriel back need to do it at a Holy site, and maybe somebody saw Gabriel when he was brought back. 

In the background, Sam could hear Gabriel pestering Kevin to eat something more than leftover burritos.

“Gabriel! I ate like,” Kevin looked at his phone’s clock “8 hours ago. I’m good for another 5 more hours at least.”

Gabriel threw his arms in the air, rolling his eyes. “Saaaaaam, come on  _ you _ have to be on my side on this. The kid can’t live on just crappy burritos once a day.”

“You think our burritos are crappy?” Sam and Kevin looked up and Gabriel turned to the voice by the door. Dean was walking in with a plate and a bowl in each hand, the plate was piled high with burgers, and the bowl was full of freshly made fries - though where Dean got the deep fryer for the fries, Sam doesn’t have a clue.

Gabriel’s eyes widened. “Did you  _ make _ those?”

Dean smirked, “Don’t sound  _ so _ surprised. I’m nesting, we have a full kitchen, and I happen to actually enjoy cooking too.”

“Where did you get the deep fryer for the fries?” Kevin asked absently, salivating and entranced by the bowl of fries. 

Dean scoffed, “You don’t need a deep fryer to make good fries, just a big enough pot - which we have - and a strainer - which we have - and some good oil - which we have.” He replied as he put the plate and bowl onto the table, and started walking back to the kitchen. 

“Wait a sec, Deano. Sit down.” Gabriel said before Dean could make it all the way out. 

Dean paused, “I’m getting us some plates - I know we didn’t have the best upbringing, but we’re not just eating like barbarians.”

Gabriel smiled. “No, I know that’s why you’re going, but look.” Dean looked at the table, and there were now four plates, and four cups, and a decanter of what Dean assumed to be was whiskey, and a pitcher of what looked like juice, sitting along with the burgers and fries he made.

“Huh. Oh, well, thanks.” He said as he made his way to sit next to Sam. 

Sam looked between Gabriel and Dean, they were getting along better than Sam had expecting they would, given their history. He felt like he should feel happier at that, since he was obviously turning to be a more than temporary presence in their lives, but seeing how easy they seemed to fit only made Sam’s heart twinge uncomfortably. He kept his face as neutral as possible as he loaded fries and a burger onto his plate. 

Kevin had already loaded his own plate with burgers and fries, and was now reaching for a cup and the whiskey. Gabriel snapped his fingers and the decanter was replaced in Kevin’s hand with the pitcher of juice. 

Kevin yelped and glared at Gabriel, “What the fuck man?” Gabriel looked at Kevin with an unimpressed expression, “You’re underage, it’s the virgin shirley temple for you.”

Sam, Dean, and Kevin all gaped at Gabriel. Dean barked a laugh while Sam asked incredulously “You’re serious? What does it matter if he’s underage?” 

Gabriel glared at Sam and Dean, “Why am I not surprised that you’ve been encouraging an underage prophet to engage in unhealthy coping methods? Actually, I am surprise that  _ you’re _ okay with that, Sam. You always seemed like the one who would care about that kind of thing.”

Sam ducked his head, and Dean looked offended. “What? And I’m the guy with no morals?” He scoffed, slamming a burger onto his own plate. He glared at his food, appetite abating a little.

Gabriel shook his head, “No, but you don’t like being a hypocrite, you wouldn’t have felt comfortable calling Kevin out on it because that’s how you coped with the shit you went through when you were his age. Sam on the other hand, didn’t use alcohol as a coping mechanism, so I don’t imagine he would’ve had that to stop him from calling Kevin out.”

Dean scowled at his plate, and Sam looked a little ashamed of himself. Kevin on the other hand just looked frustrated. “What does it matter if I drink? It’s not like my life is normal anymore. My mom’s dead, my girlfriend’s dead, and my school thinks I just dropped out. It’s not like I’m the fast track to Princeton anymore,” he said resentfully.

Gabriel just looked at him. “Boo fucking hoo.”

Sam and Dean snapped their heads up to gape at Gabriel. Kevin glared at Gabriel, “What?!”

Gabriel lounged back in his chair and took a sip of whiskey from his own cup. “Your life’s not normal, so fucking what? None of our lives are normal. It’s the byproduct of having to deal with my Dad.”

Kevin just continued glaring at Gabriel. Gabriel sighed, and leaned forward. “Look, kid. I get it. Your life sucks compared to what you had planned. And I’m sorry about that on my Dad’s behalf. But there’s nothing you can do to change that. You were chosen. Nothing can change that. And I know it’s hard, but you’re still young. I mean fuck, you’re just a kid. You still have decades ahead, and I can help show you how to deal with the headaches and the visions, and the damn tablets, and still use those decades to live a nice long, happy life. But the first step of that - a little sobriety. You can’t live a long and happy life without your liver, kid.”

A stunned silence followed Gabriel’s declaration.

“How?” Kevin asked expressionlessly. It was as though he was still too stunned to fully process what Gabriel had said, but still wanted answers.

Gabriel smirked. “I  _ was _ Dad’s Messenger. Who the hell do you think was talking to the prophets back in the day? Abraham, Joseph, Mohammed; it was all me. Up until the Big J took over for the Apostles that is. Dad may have been a jerk, but his chosen were always well taken care of. I was in charge of taking care of them before I left. I know how to keep a prophet alive for centuries if you wanted. Hell, Abraham lived until the young age of 175.” 

 

Sam, Dean, and Kevin all blinked at Gabriel, speechless. Gabriel just back grinned at them.

 

“Are you serious?” Kevin asked softly. He looked hesitant to believe what Gabriel was offering. Sam and Dean just stared at the two, they knew they had nothing to do with this conversation. But they were both hopeful that Gabriel was serious. Neither of them ever said anything about it, but they had come to see Kevin as a little brother. They loved the little guy, and they were tired of losing the ones they loved. 

Gabriel’s grin softened. “Of course. I know you never asked for this. And it’s partly my fault you’re having such a crap time of dealing with all this. You and Chuck both. The prophets were my responsibility. When I left, the responsibility fell to Raphael.” Gabriel looked down, “And obviously he didn’t do a very good job of taking care of you all.” He said softly.

Kevin suddenly looked like he wanted to be mad. “You mean, if you hadn’t run away from home, then there’s a chance I wouldn’t have had to be a prophet at all right now?” He hissed.

Gabriel looked surprised. “I didn’t expect you to put that one together.”

Sam and Dean exchanged a startled and confused look. “What? What did he put together?” Sam asked. 

Kevin was now glaring at Gabriel for an entirely different reason. He grabbed his plate, and stormed out of the room. Sam jumped up and Dean twisted his torso to follow Kevin’s retreat. 

“Kevin! Wait!” Sam called. 

Dean spun and pointed a finger at Gabriel, “What the fuck is going on? Why the hell is Kevin so mad? You just told him that you could make his life better!”

Ignoring the Winchesters, Gabriel sighed and slumped in his seat, running his hand through his hair. “Well that could have gone better.”

Sam slumped down into his chair and looked at Gabriel, “What could have gone better? Why is he so mad? What did he put together that we missed?”

Gabriel looked ruefully at Sam, “And they say you’re the smart one. Looks like this Kevin kid is miles ahead of you.”   
Sam crossed his arms a little defensively, “Yeah, well he was in Advanced Placement.”

Dean huffed. “Yeah, we get it, we know - the kid’s a genius. Why the fuck is he so mad?” He pressed, glaring at Gabriel. 

Gabriel sighed again. “If I hadn’t run, how many prophets do you think would have lived well into their old age?” He asked, and waited for them to put it together. Gabriel knew that Dean didn’t think he was smart, but that was because he thought his role in life was protector. Like Sam, however, he had more than enough smarts to put it together once Gabriel steered them into the right path of thinking. 

Gabriel smiled sadly when he saw as it dawned on them. They stared at him, and then looked towards the door that Kevin had stormed out of. “Oh.” Sam said softly.

Gabriel huffed, “Yeah, oh.” He rested his head in his hands. “The kid has every right to be pissed at me right now. Hell, Chuck probably wouldn’t have had to be a prophet if I’d been around. From what I could tell before I died, we went through the prophets way faster than we were supposed to have. Just yet another thing I need to pay for for running away.”

Sam and Dean looked at each other. They didn’t know what to say. Gabriel was right that Kevin had a fairly valid reason for being mad right now. It wasn’t fair in the first place that Kevin had to give up his life at such a young age, and that not only did he need to do that but he got the shitty job of being prophet which came with threats on his life, regular migraines and visions, and the  _ wonderful _ position of being the only one able to translate the tablets. But on the other hand, it wasn’t Gabriel’s fault that Raphael was a shitty caretaker. Sam looked at Gabriel. He’d never seen the angel so down before. 

Before he could even contemplate how to console the angel and Kevin, Sam found himself walking around the table towards the archangel. He saw Gabriel tense, as though he were expecting a blow. Sam wasn’t even thinking as he bent down and pulled the small man into a hug. Gabriel froze. Sam froze. Dean froze. 

Sam thawed first. “Gabriel, it’s not your fault that Kevin is in this position. Yeah, if you hadn’t ran maybe he wouldn’t have been called so early. But the same could be said if Raphael had done his job properly. You aren’t responsible for Raphael’s decision to not care about the prophets,” He said softly, as he pulled away from Gabriel putting a respectful few feet between them. Maybe if he acted as though he hadn't done it, they could all pretend that it hadn’t happened.

A small cough came from the door. The three at the table turned to look at Kevin who was standing there, holding his plate of food, looking extremely uncomfortable. “He’s right.” He said softly. 

Gabriel looked stunned at Kevin, as though he couldn’t believe those words had come out of his mouth. Kevin looked a little sheepish. “He’s right,” he repeats, “it’s not all your fault. Yeah, it’s shitty that this Raphael was in charge of my care in the first place, but it was his decision -” 

Dean gasped.

Everyone turned to stare at Dean. Kevin sighed, annoyed at being interrupted. “What, Dean? I was trying to get this chick flick moment over with.”

Dean just stared at Kevin. “You never had an archangel.” 

It was Sam that gasped this time, he stared at Dean for a moment longer before turning to Kevin, slapping his forehead. “Right! Raphael’s never had you under his care!”

Gabriel looked completely confused. “What do you mean that Raphael didn’t have him under hi- oh!” As Gabriel recalled the Winchesters recount of the last few years that he had missed, he remembered that the first thing that Castiel had done during his whole “Godstiel” phase was kill Raphael, thus ending that particular angelic civil war. He looked down, “Oh.”

Sam looked back to Gabriel. Right, sometimes he forgot that Raphael was also Gabriel’s older brother. They had sped through the last few years so fast in their explanations that they hadn’t really given Gabe much time to process and mourn yet another one of his brother’s deaths. 

Kevin was just looking confused at everyone. “What do you mean I never had an archangel?” 

Dean was still staring at Kevin. “Castiel killed Raphael back before the Leviathans were let out. And Michael and Lucifer are in the the Cage, and Gabriel was dead. You’ve never had an archangel as your guardian. You had a Garrison.”

Gabriel looked at Dean. “Which Garrison?” 

Dean finally broke his stare at Kevin. He grinned proudly, “The best. If I’m recalling right, I think it used to be Castiel’s.”

Gabriel nodded, feeling a swelling of pride himself. Even if Castiel wasn’t actually leading that Garrison at the time, he had still shaped and formed the garrison into what it had been. He had made the Garrison the best of all the Host. That was something to be proud of. “That makes sense, his  _ was _ the best Garrison. And management  _ would _ assign the prophet the best one if there wasn’t an archangel on hand.”

Kevin nodded slowly. “Okay, so what you’re saying then, is it’s even more not Gabriel’s fault. He was dead, and the angel that was supposed to take his position was also dead.” 

The boys and Gabriel went back to staring at Kevin. “You sure took the fact that Gabriel was dead in stride,” Sam commented, impressed.

Kevin shrugged. “At this point, I’m willing to believe most things,” he said tiredly. He put his attention back onto Gabriel. “So what I’m getting here is that my life is shit, some of that is your fault, but not all of it, and now you want to try to make it up to me by teaching me to deal with what it means to be a prophet so I can live a normal life?”

Gabriel made a tiny huff of amusement. “Well, not normal. You’re a prophet; your life will never be ‘normal’, but you’ll be able to live a long and relatively happy life.”

Kevin nodded, and looked a little lost in a thought. After a moment's hesitation, Kevin quietly asked something that had been nagging at him since he learned that Gabriel was an archangel. “Can- Can you bring my mom back?”

Gabriel’s expression sobered from it’s usual casual smugness. Completely serious, he leaned in and looked Kevin dead in the eye. “I can’t do that.” He said, holding up a palm to forestall any protests. “What you need to understand, kiddo, is that at the moment I’m not actually at one hundred percent. Coming back to life - unless you’re a Winchester -” he said with a smirk, Sam and Dean looked away. “- is difficult enough for those who are mortals, but it’s even more so for those who are extremely powerful, like myself, or any of the other archangels. Whoever brought me back,  _ whatever _ brought me back was very powerful. But they weren’t powerful enough. They couldn’t bring me back completely - right now I’m more pagan god than archangel, and it will take me a significant amount of R-and-R to fully replenish my Grace. I simply don’t have the juice to bring someone back to life. Especially if it’s been awhile since they’ve died. I’d have to rebuild their body on top of dragging their soul from wherever it resided.”

Kevin looked down but nodded understandingly. “I figured it was a long shot, but I had to ask.” he said in a small voice. Sam and Dean exchanged sympathetic looks as Gabriel put a hand on Kevin’s shoulder. “I know you did, kiddo. And if I could fulfill your request, I would.” Gabriel said softly.

Gabriel leaned back in his chair and sighed, popping a fry into his mouth as he thought. “What’s really bugging me about this is that someone would need some of my grace to bring me back, as well as a significant amount of holy energy. A God’s Hand, maybe?” Gabe contemplated to himself as he continued popping fries into his mouth.

Sam grimaced at Gabriel as the archangel-but-mostly-pagan-god spoke with his mouth full. He received more than enough of that from Dean, and since Gabriel seemed to be staying, it looked like he would be receiving even more of it from Gabe, too.

“As interesting as this is,” Dean said, clapping his hands. “It's been a long day, let’s eat, and then I need to get some shut eye.”


	10. The One Where Gabriel Contemplates His Ressurection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel has some ideas about his resurrection, Sam is his usual adorable puppydog self, and Kevin and Dean just hopes Sam doesn't get himself killed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've changed the title of this one so. Many. Chuck-damn. Times. And I haven't been happy with any of them so. Here you go :P
> 
> -X

Finally, Gabriel had provided them with  _ somewhere _ to start. Significant Holy Energy was needed to bring him back. Which amazed Sam a little, since Gabriel had returned with essentially no Grace at all. He mentioned this to Gabriel.

“Well we archs aren’t your run-of-the-mill angelic beings. Dad made us from primordial energies over a span of hundreds of thousands of human lifetimes. Whoever brought me back, wouldn’t have had access to that amount of energy or amount of time. So they would have had to use both Pagan magicks and Holy Energy - which more often than not cancel each other out.” Gabriel explained, while lounging back on two of the four legs of his chair, feet resting on the library table, sucking on yet another lollipop. 

“So do you think that’s what happened to your Grace then? That it got cancelled out by the Pagan Magicks?” Dean asked, he had begrudgingly put a halt on his cleaning and organizing to join the little research team in the library for the day.

“Mmm, yes and no.” Gabriel replied, pulling his lollipop out of his mouth and waving it about a bit. “For one, because I was so out of it, I have no idea what exactly happened, so this is all still speculation until we find the site where I was resurrected. But it would make sense that whoever brought me back had at least a tiny bit of my Grace, since I have  _ just _ enough Grace to be able to attract more and rebuild it. And since all of my powers are currently of the Pagan origin, then whoever brought me back obviously had some of my Pagan essence.” 

Gabriel stood up and began pacing around the library. “It takes a lot of power to bring back a being  _ period. _ So whoever brought me back had to have had a lot of both energies to bring me back, but either was more well-versed with Pagan Magicks, or was able to get ahold of more Pagan Magicks than they could Holy Energy.” 

He plopped in front of Sam, laying on top of his laptop’s keyboard like a cat would. Sam huffed and picked up the laptop and moved to another seat. Gabriel pouted at him before continuing, “Plus, I know that all of the Hand’s of Dad are one-time use blasts of energy, and  _ hard _ to get ahold of since they’ve been shuffled all over the world by various religious organizations.”

It was like suddenly, now that Gabriel was actively thinking about it, ideas about how he was resurrected were just flowing out of him. Sam and Kevin were having a bit of a hard time keeping up, but between the two of them they had enough notes to go off of to start a decent research. Knowing that a mix of Pagan magick and Holy Energy was required to bring Gabriel back helped a lot. It would be easier to narrow down locations with that knowledge. And knowing that a Hand of God could have been used helped a lot as well, because while one of them looked for signs of both Pagan and Holy residual energies, another could track down Hands of God and see which had gone missing lately. 

Dean was staring blankly at his screen. He was just as good at research as Sam and Kevin but he  _ loathed _ it, and often found himself blanking out, or getting distracted because it was just. so. boring. He looked at Gabriel, who was yet again trying to get Sam’s attention in a catlike manner. Dean was a little impressed at Sam’s patience, he would have flipped the table by now if it was him. “Hey shortstack, who do you think would have some of your essence or whatever? What kind of things would have contained your essence?” 

Gabriel huffed, “I’ll have you know that my vessel’s height is within the average range, thank you very much. You two” He said, waving his lollipop between the brothers, “are just freakishly tall.”

Dean smirked, “Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Midget. Just answer the question.”

Gabriel narrowed his eyes at the older hunter, “You know, I could turn you into a squirrel or a mouse or something. And then we’ll see who’s throwing around height jokes.”

Dean kept smirking, but raised his hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay. No need to get your panties in a bunch. I’ll keep your height - or lack thereof - out of my joke repertoire if it bothers you that much.”

Gabriel still had his eyes narrowed, looking like he was debating turning Dean into a squirrel anyway, just for the principal of the matter. He hummed for a moment, then nodded his head to himself, and dropped his posture back into a lazy sprawl over Sam’s lap, who was still resolutely ignoring the tiny archangel. “Well, it could be any number of beings to be honest. All they’d need to contain some of my essence, would be a piece of me. A hair, a nail, sexual fluids,” He said suggestively with a waggle of his eyebrows. Sam, Dean, and Kevin all rolled their eyes. “Or some of my blo-” He froze.

Sam finally stopped ignoring Gabriel and looked down at his lap. “Gabe? You okay?” 

Gabriel slapped his forehead, jumping up suddenly onto the table, startling everyone around it. “My Dad, we’re idiots!”

Kevin looked wide-eyed at the brothers, trying to gauge what was going on, after all they still had more experience with this strange angel than he did. When he noticed that they looked just as confused as he felt, he looked back at the archangel who was now pacing the length of the table. “Uhhh, Gabriel? Care to share? Why are we idiots this time?” He asked, earning a bitchface from both Winchesters for his usage of the words ‘this time’ in his question. But he ignored the looks in favour of finding out what got the archangel all excited.

Gabriel looked at Kevin, before turning and point a finger at the brothers, “Did you two chuckleheads ever think to get our blood back from Kali during your retreat?” Both he and Kevin watched as Sam and Dean looked at each other as their confusion turned to understanding to dawning horror. All these years, and they never thought to get their blood back from the Destroyer. They were just lucky that they had obviously bored her enough for her to not put their blood to use.

“I thought not.” Gabriel nodded, seemingly both disappointed and expectant of this slight on the boys part.  He continued to pace the table. He hadn’t thought about Kali when he returned. Which was a slight on his part as well, he supposed. Kali was the last Pagan god around who had a debt to him. Gabriel had saved her life by standing up to Luci and sending her off with the boys, putting a life debt between them. And Kali  **hated** being indebted. She  _ would _ be the type to believe that she had enough ability to bring back an archangel. She was the  _ Destroyer _ . She would believe it her right to take away life - and someone had taken away a life that was  _ hers _ without her permission. And that would just not do, of course. 

The brothers and Kevin were watching Gabriel pace back and forth on top of the table they were sitting around. They watched as Gabriel became increasingly irritated, until soon, his steps were stomps, and table had started to groan under the abuse. Sam stood up, Dean and Kevin watching warily as he reached out to rest a hand on the irritated archangel’s forearm. When Gabriel froze at the touch, the rest of the men held their breaths, hoping that Sam hadn’t just signed his own death warrant. Gabriel stared down at the younger Winchester's hand on his arm, and then looked up at the hazel eyes staring at him with compassion, and more than just a little bit of fear. He looked at the other two sitting at the table, and noted the fear in their eyes as well. He sighed, and relaxed his shoulders, running a hand through his hair.

“Sorry,” he apologized, hopping down from the table, and snapped his fingers, repairing the tiny cracks that had accumulated on the table from his pacing. “It’s just that, if this was indeed Kali’s doing. It’s likely that she overstepped her bounds. She was ever the arrogant one, and believed she had more power than she did. If it  _ was _ her, I just hope that she had the smarts enough to at least get help from  _ someone _ .” He explained with a resigned sigh as he plopped into the seat at the other end of the table, farthest away from the three men who were still staring at him with mild apprehension.  _ At least they’re still smart enough to recognize power when they see it _ , he thought ruefully as he worked on calming down enough to stop scaring them.

Sam was still looking at him with compassionate eyes, and Gabriel really wished he would stop. He didn’t know what to make of it and it bothered him. “You really cared for her didn’t you?” Sam asked softly.

Gabriel eyes flashed as he snapped his head towards Sam, and Dean and Kevin were once again holding their breaths, hoping that Gabriel wasn’t about smite him for asking such a personal question. Gabriel noted their discomfort and schooled his emotions once again.  _ Damn it, I forgot how volatile Pagan emotions were. They’re worse that humans. _ He grumbled to himself. He took a biologically unnecessary but psychologically imperative breath before answering. “Yes, I’m ‘strangely’ sentimental that way.” He said with a controlled calm and a roll of his eyes at the notion that it was strange for a Pagan god/Archangel to be sentimental.

Kevin and Dean relaxed when it became evident that Gabriel wasn’t about to turn the giant Winchester into puree. Kevin looked between Gabriel and Sam speculatively, before a small smile appeared on his face. He wondered vaguely if he should start a betting pool on who would get their asses out of their heads sooner, Gabriel and Sam, or Dean and Cas, before he remembered that there was no one around to place bets in that pool, and his smile disappeared as soon as it had arrived.  

Dean cleared his throat, and looked at Gabriel hesitantly. “So...do you have an idea of how we could find her?” He asked, carefully avoiding saying the Destroyer’s name in case that was some sort of trigger for tiny but scarily powerful being. 

Gabriel sighed. “Well,  _ if _ she was the one who did this, and  _ if _ she survived the process, and  _ if _ we were suicidal enough, there are a few rituals that can summon a Pagan god. And at least two that can summon Kali specifically,” he replied. “Of course, if she wanted, she could kill you all on sight for even daring to  _ think _ of summoning her. She couldn’t kill me on sight, but it’d be a damn near thing at this point in my recovery.”

Kevin looked thoughtful. “Well what if we used the knowledge that we  _ do have _ of her, and try to see if we can figure this out without summoning her. We have quite a bit of information to go off of, even if it’s just speculation. It might take longer, but as far as you’ve all told me, we don’t have a deadline - so it’s not like we have a burning need to do this as fast as possible. Figuring it out ourselves, and using her as a last ditch attempt for answers, sounds like the safest option. Don’t you think?” He asked, finishing his suggestion by looking at each of the three sitting around the table. 

Sam and Dean exchanged a glance before looking at Gabriel. “It does sound like a decent plan. We have the luxury at the moment to take our time and not do anything reckless,” Sam said with a shrug, “we might as well take it.”

Gabriel grinned, throwing his arms up as though in surrender as he leaned back in his chair, “Hey you don’t hear me complaining. Good to see you guys finally gaining some sense of self-preservation.” He snapped up another lollipop and stuck it in his mouth, before standing up and wandering around the library. “So what do you mooks do for fun around here, seeing as I’ve done my share of this research project?” He asked, hopping from one table to the next.

The boys watched him hop around for a moment before Kevin answered dryly, “This is Team Free Will you’re talking to, Workaholics Extraordinaires. Fun isn’t something we usually do.”

Dean huffed a laugh, “yeah, well if the other night was anything to go by, maybe we could stand to relax and take it easy once in awhile. Especially with some of us still recovering.” He added with a pointed look at Sam, to which Sam replied with a roll of his eyes.

“Dean I keep telling you, I’m  _ fine _ .” Sam sighed, exasperated. “I mean, yeah, I’m a little more tired than normal but that’s kind of to be expected, don’t you think? And it’s not like hunters have the healthiest sleeping habits. What I’ve been getting? I’m like the posterboy for getting a good night’s rest in the hunter community.” Dean sighed, but relented.

Gabriel watched the brothers shrewdly. Until now, he’d almost forgotten that he wanted to talk to Dean about what he’s obviously keeping from Sam. He was beginning to think it might have something to do with Sam’s recovery after trying to close the Gates of Hell, since it looked like this isn’t the first time that the boys had had this argument. He narrowed his eyes at Dean, who seemed to be resolutely ignoring Gabriel’s gaze. 

Yes, he needed to get Dean alone for this conversation it would seem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I've apparently set my bar fairly high with my debriel fic. Because 2k words seems short for a chapter. (though, word to the wise, don't post a WIP fic where the chapters are 4k-6k words long... Unless having wicked handcramps is you thing, then by all means. :P )
> 
> We've got another couple chapters that we're still editting. I'm going to try to get us back on a weekly update schedule, but we'll see how that goes. Real life can be so distracting sometimes. 
> 
> Loves,  
> X
> 
> Oh. P.s. Comments and kudos are life! Please help keep us alive ;) <3
> 
> P.p.s. I have a new tumblr! Feel free to message me or send me prompts there!  
> xanydee3.tumblr.com


	11. The One Where Dean Attempts To Renegotiate And Gabe Gets Parental

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean attempts to renegotiate and Gabe gets a little parental with the boys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We liiiiiive! :P  
> Sorry for the lack of posting. We're stuck in the next couple chapters and real life's got us by the short and curlies at the moment. But here's something to tide y'all over until I can rewrite ch.12, I've rewritten it like 3 times already and I'm still not happy with it.  
> So don't worry, we haven't abandoned this series. We got a good chunk more outlined up for ya, just got to get around to writing it up :3  
> -X

It took some time, and clever manoeuvring on Dean’s part, before he could finally get Sam alone so he could talk to Zeke. 

“Dean.” Zeke greeted. He looked extremely unhappy that Dean organized this little tete-a-tete. “This is highly unadvisable. If Gabriel, or Kevin were to walk in right now, we’d have a very difficult time trying to explain this situation.” He started, as stiffly as ever.

“But Gabriel could help.” Dean pleaded. “He’s a freaking archangel -”

“No,” Zeke interrupted. “He is a Pagan,” he stated with a hint of disdain. “He said so himself earlier, he does not have healing abilities in this state. Best case scenario would be that he alerts Sam of my presence, thereby giving Sam an opportunity to expel me, undoing all of the healing that we have done so far.”

Dean couldn’t understand why Zeke was being so stubborn. But he wasn’t knowledgeable in how exactly the angel healing process worked while an angel was inside a conscious vessel. Perhaps he should have waited to talk to Gabriel first, and gathered more information. 

“But he  _ was _ an archangel, and is  _ gathering _ Grace, maybe he could show you more effective ways at gathering enough Grace to speed up the healing process.” Dean argued. “We have a near infinite amount of knowledge in our hands that we could use!”

Zeke remained quiet for a moment. Dean waited semi-patiently for his response, hoping that he would see the logic in his argument. Zeke refocused his steely gaze on Dean (he’d never get used to that, seeing Sam, but  _ not _ seeing Sam in those familiar eyes that’d he known his whole life). “I will consider this. I do not trust Gabriel, he abandoned us when we needed him most in heaven. I do not trust that he will not abandon or betray us again when it suits him best.”

Dean legitimately didn’t know what to say to that. It sucked, but he could understand not being able to trust a brother who had left you. But on the flip side, Gabriel had sacrificed himself to save him and Sam. That couldn’t mean nothing. “Alright, but know that I trust him. He might’ve made poor decisions in his past. Hell, we all have at one point or another,” Dean missed the minute flinch that fluttered through Sam’s face at that, “But he came through when it mattered most. That can’t count for nothing. Wouldn’t you like to be given a second chance if one was offered to you?” He asked. 

Zeke pondered that for a moment.  “Yes. If I were to have made such a grievance, I would like to be given a second chance,” he responded slowly. “But I would still like some time to consider your suggestion, and see for myself Gabriel’s alleged change in character, before we trust him enough with not only my life, but Sam’s as well.”

Damn the angel. Damn all the angels, and knowing exactly which button to push to get him to agree. Dean knew that this was the best he was going to get out of Zeke for now, but he wasn’t going to let this drop. Not only was Sam’s well being at stake here, but so was Cas’. Dean may have set him up at Charlie’s for now, but he wasn’t going to be able to really rest easy until the nerdy little angel was safe and sound at home again.

 

\-------

 

Gabriel shouldn’t have been surprised at Dean’s wiliness, if there was image next the definition of avoidance - it would be the green-eyed hunter’s face. And frankly it was really starting to get on Gabriel’s nerves.

“Hey Sam, do you know where Dean went to?” Gabriel asked Sam as he entered the library where the eldest Winchester was woefully absent, yet again. How Dean kept managing to give him the slip, Gabriel couldn’t figure out.

“Hm?” Sam looked up from his laptop, in the midst of doing more research on where Kali may be or where she may have performed the ritual if she indeed was the one who brought him back like Gabriel thought. 

“Dean? He was just here a few moments ago wasn’t he?” Gabe pressed exasperatedly. Sam looked around, seeming to have not noticed that Dean had left. 

“Oh. Uhhh, yeah.” Sam looked a little sheepish that he had gotten so lost in research, “Maybe the kitchen? I think he ran out of coffee?” He suggested, before getting back into it. 

Gabriel rolled his eyes and went to the kitchen. He was really starting to get annoyed now; he’d been chasing the damn hunter all morning. But every time he thought he got him, he had just missed Dean by mere moments. 

Gabriel popped into the kitchen, fortunately this time, right behind the hunter as he was pouring himself a cup of coffee. Dean turned around, yelped, and jumped, only barely managing not to spill the hot beverage all over himself in the process. 

“Dammit Gabe!” He grumbled as he put his half-empty cup of coffee down, and went to the sink to grab a cloth to wipe up the remaining coffee from the floor.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes at Dean, and pointed a finger at the blonde. “You’ve been avoiding me,” he accused. 

Dean looked baffled, “What? What are you talking about? When have I been avoiding you?” He asked.

Gabriel threw his hands in the air. “All day!” he exclaimed. “I’ve been trying to pin you down since this morning!” He griped.

Dean raised an eyebrow at Gabriel’s wording. “Kinky,” Dean snarked. “But seriously, I have no idea what you’re on about.”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow back. “You mean you haven’t been deliberately trying to not being alone with me so I can’t confront you about what’s going on with Sam right now that he doesn’t know about?”

Dean paled.  _ Fuck, I should have figured that Gabe would pick up on that. _ “I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s nothing going on with Sam.”

“Riiiight,” Gabriel rolled his eyes, “so what was all that about Sam needing to rest then?”

Dean looked down. “That’s just me being my usual overprotective self.” He looked back up at Gabriel with sad, green eyes. “You weren’t there, Gabe. You didn't see the guy before Zeke healed him -” 

“Zeke?” Gabriel interrupted. “Who’s Zeke?” 

Dean looked down again, “Sam wasn’t as good as we said when we gave you the lowdown earlier.  As far as Sam knows he just passed out, but he was worse than that. I had to bring him to the hospital and pray to angels to get one of them to come and heal him. Most of them came to kill us, or grill us for Cas’ location, but Zeke, Ezekiel, he was a good guy. The only one that came to help us.”

Gabriel nodded, “Oh Ezekiel, yes he’s a good guy. One of Cas’ best friends from his garrison.” 

Dean looks at Gabriel sharply, “ _ Best _ friend?”

Gabriel grinned at Dean knowingly, waggling his eyebrows, “Why, precious, jealous?”

Dean looked away with a scowl. “No,” There was the faintest hints of a blush dusting his cheeks. “Cas has never talked about him, is all.”

Gabriel laughed dryly. “Something tells me that he’s never actually had the time. You boys are certifiable workaholics.” Before Dean could retort, defend, or even express any remorse at this truth, Gabe shook his head. “You and Cas, you’re two peas in a pod. Always looking to  _ save _ humanity.”

Dean pursed his lips. “You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Dean said wryly.

Gabriel raised his eyebrows, expression saying ‘well, duh’. “With you two, it kind of is. You give too much of yourselves to do it,” he said not unkindly. “So that’s what that’s all about? Sammy got more hurt than you let on? Why does it matter that he had to be healed by an angel? He’s been healed before.”

Dean scowled. “Zeke said something about the fall wounding him. He wasn’t exactly at one hundred percent. He couldn’t heal Sammy completely.”

Gabriel hummed thoughtfully. “So what you're saying is that Sam shouldn’t be doing as well as he appears to be doing?”

“Basically,” Dean shrugged, “I’m worried that he’ll keel over or somethin’. I don’t want to worry about him during a hunt. It’ll mess with my focus.”

Gabriel narrowed his eyes at Dean, “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

Dean sighed, “I’m not sure what parts of Sam are healed, and which aren’t. I’m not exactly in regular contact with the dude. But I don’t want Sammy to worry.”

Gabriel still looked suspicious, but he could tell that this was the most that he was going to get out of Dean. He sighed. “You’d tell me if there was something more than that right? Something we might have to worry about?” He asked the hunter.

Dean grinned. “That’d be my first instinct.” 

Gabriel smirked, “Well, I guess that’s all I can ask.” His expression turned a little mischievous, “So… Does that mean he’s off limits for pranks then?” He asked, waggling his eyebrows.

Dean barked a laugh. “S’long as you don’t do something to harm him, I don’t see why we can’t have a little fun.” He replied, grinning. It’d been far too long since their last prank war. With all the trauma and shadows following them, they’d never had the time nor the spirit. Charlie had help a great deal with the  _ spirit _ part of the equation, but she was all the way in Oz. Hopefully Gabe could reignite that playfulness they’d lost over the years.

Gabriel grinned. “Perfect. I’ve been wanting to do something about that moose’s hair for  _ age _ .” 

Dean smirked, “Yeah, uhhh, that’s probably the only no-go zone with him. That and his laptop. Surefire way to end any prank war.” He said ruefully, remembering the Nair incident, and how it had actually burned Sam a little. He still felt a tiny pang of guilt when he thought about it.

Gabriel snickered. “You’ve had some experience with that have you?” He asked with a smirk. 

Dean looked a little abashed before replying, “Yeah, we could get pretty carried away sometimes with our prank wars.” He explained. “I put Nair in his shampoo once; his hair fell out, and it burned his scalp a little, and he was pissed with me for  _ months _ .” he recalled.

Gabriel cackled. “A bald moose! I wasn’t even thinking of that!” He gasped between his laughter. Dean grinned, feeling a little proud at getting the  _ Trickster _ to laugh so hard. “I was thinking something more along the lines of dying his hair bright fuchsia or something.” Gabriel continued, wiping a few stray laughter-induced tears from the corners of his eyes. 

“What’d I miss?” Sam asked as he walked into the kitchen, with a grin on his face. “I could hear Gabriel’s cackling from the library.” He said, refilling his coffee cup and leaning back onto the counter. 

Dean and Gabriel chuckled. “Oh, you didn’t miss much, just Deano here telling me of some of your past prank wars.” Gabriel replied. “Like the Nair incident, for example.” he continued, waggling his eyebrows at Sam.

Sam scowled, and turned to Dean. “Seriously? Months of my silent treatment, and that’s  _ still _ funny to you?” He griped.

Dean raised his arms in surrender. “No no, I was just telling him why your hair is a no-go zone in prank wars!” He exclaimed defensively. “He just happened to find it funny.”

Sam narrowed his eyes at his brother, and the tiny Trickster. “And  _ why _ would he need to know if my hair was a no-go zone?” He asked warily. 

“Oh come on Moosey. A few pranks here and there won’t hurt anyone.” Gabriel said dismissively. Dean and Sam both looked at him, each quirking an eyebrow skeptically.

“Have you forgotten how we met?” Dean snarked. Sam nodded in agreement, though they both had smiles on their faces.

Gabriel waved his hand, “Oh we all know those guys had it coming. I’m talking about normal everyday pranks, not my usual job.”

Sam snickered. “When has  _ anything _ been ‘normal everyday’ with you?” he asked amusedly. Gabriel just waggled his eyebrows in reply.

Kevin chose that moment to stumble into the kitchen. Gabriel frowned. “What time did you go to bed kiddo?” He asked. Kevin just scowled at him. 

Dean smirked, “He’s never been a morning person, regardless of what time he goes to bed.” Kevin grunted in assent. Gabriel pursed his lips. 

“Still, it’s well into the afternoon.” Kevin just continued scowling at Gabriel, while he made his way to the coffee station.

Dean and Sam exchanged a look, which Gabriel noticed. “What?” He griped. Dean looked away with a small smile on his face, and Sam just smiled at Gabriel. “It’s nothing.” He replied. The brothers hadn’t seen much of Gabriel’s personality outside of being a Trickster. They were finding it surprising and endearing that the tiny man could be so parental. 

Gabriel huffed.  _ Well they can keep their looks, I’m just doing my job. _ He thought as he snapped up a healthy, filling brunch for the group. The table now had plates of bacon, sausages, pancakes, crepes, fruit, milk, orange juice, yogurt, scrambled eggs; a smorgasbord with a little bit of something for everyone.

“Awesome!” Dean exclaimed, as he grabbed a plate on started loading it up. Kevin turned around from where he had been making his coffee, and just gaped at the table for a moment, before shrugging and following Dean’s lead. Sam grabbed an apple and just watched as the pair started gobbling down their food, and looked at Gabriel, who was doing the same, but with satisfied look on his face. Sam watched as Gabriel frowned and looked at Sam. 

“You’re not gonna eat?” he asked Sam, and Dean slowed his eating as he looked concernedly at his brother. Sam waved the apple he was munching on. “I  _ am _ eating.” he replied. Gabriel rolled his eyes. “That’s a snack, not a meal. Come on,” he said with a wave of his arm towards the food, “You haven’t eaten for hours. And I  _ know _ all you had was half a bowl of cereal. You can’t tell me that you aren’t starving?” Gabriel insisted. Dean had now stopped eating entirely, looking between Sam and Gabriel, though neither party seemed to notice. Kevin, still not fully conscious, just continued eating away, oblivious to the rest of the world.

Sam shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. Ever since I woke up after stopping the trials, I haven’t been as hungry.” He said, continuing to much on the apple. Dean looked hesitantly at Gabriel, taking slow bites of his food. He knew that the reason Sam wasn’t as hungry right now was because he had an angel riding shotgun. If they weren’t careful, Sam was going to give them away. Gabriel narrowed his eyes at Sam, and glanced at Dean. 

Dean had managed to deflect Gabriel’s concerns, but Gabriel was beginning to think maybe there was more than he let on. 

“That’s strange,” Gabriel started slowly, “you’d think with all that you went through, your body would need more food to replenish itself.” 

Sam shrugged again. Gabriel was beginning to feel concerned at his nonchalant attitude. “Yeah, that’s what I thought, but I’ve also read that sometimes it takes a bit for a body to regain its former level of appetite after being sick for a long time. And sometimes the person never regains the same level of appetite.” He said unconcernedly. 

Gabriel hummed, _ well I guess that explains why he’s not that concerned about it. Of course the giant would do research on something like that. _ “Alright,” he said slowly, “Well, at least eat some more fruit, or some yogurt, or bacon or something. Just because your appetite is low doesn’t mean that your body doesn’t still need it’s vitamins and proteins.”

Sam looked amused. “Yes,  _ Dad _ .” He replied, and Dean choked on some eggs as he laughed. Gabriel flushed a little. Even Kevin, who was slowly becoming more awake, smirked at Gabriel. 

“Shuddup.” Gabriel mumbled as he flicked a strawberry at Sam. Sam laughed as he ducked to catch the strawberry in his mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also! I have two tumblr accounts and I linked one on the last chapter. But since then I've been more active on my side blog :P so if y'all wanna chat or read any ficlets I post or get updates on how my writing is doing follow me at:  
> http://belabee.tumblr.com  
> -☓


	12. The One Where Dean and Gabe Hash Things Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel corners Dean to confront him about Sam again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uggggh so.... Sorry that it's been so friggen long since the last update.   
> I've been plagued with the worst case of writer's block - in that I've just not been liking what I've been writing at all.   
> But I've been trying to work through it anyway since I know a lot of it is just my own weird insecurities.   
> Anyhooozles. Here's the chapter. Turns out there was only one paragraph that I didn't like and after fixing it, it worked out better :3
> 
> Also, Esoulix has lost her flow for the story and it will be mostly me writing the rest of it. But she'll still be sticking around to help me hash out plot and storyline stuffs and a bit of beta-ing.
> 
> Also we'd like to thank you for all the support and patience you've been giving us - especially Esoulix, as she dealt with the passing of her father.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!  
> \- X

Despite Dean’s previous reassurances and his promise to tell him if there was something with Sam to be concerned about, Gabriel couldn’t shake this feeling that there was something off with Sam. The biggest clue? Dean taking Sam out for walks, and Sam consistently coming back looking a little confused, as though he was surprised by how quickly time had passed. 

Gabriel followed them once, to try to figure out what would cause such a reaction from the gigantic Winchester, but the walk had turned out to be just that. A walk. Where the boys chatted, and brainstormed, and teased each other. Although, he did notice that this time, Sam didn’t come back looking confused. So he had a sneaking suspicion that Dean somehow sensed his presence during the walk, despite the fact that he had cloaked himself.

_ Stupid Winchester and his damned ability to flaunt normal rules. _ Gabriel grumbled when his second attempt to spy on the brothers bared the same results as his first attempt. It confirmed Gabriel’s suspicion that Dean was more astute than he let on.

Finally, after the third attempt at spying, Gabriel cornered Dean while he was in the gun range, practicing. 

 

Gabriel leaned against the door as he watched Dean unload clip after clip, hitting the targets unerringly each time. He waited for Dean to notice his presence. The guns wouldn’t actually kill him or cause any lasting damage, but it would still be annoying to get shot and startling the hunter would so not be worth dealing with that.

Dean put down the gun, and took out his earplugs, turning grab his water bottle. He’ll forever deny the tiny squeak that he emitted as he jumped when he noticed Gabriel watching him.

“Jesus! How long have you been standing there?” He huffed, clutching his chest a little, hoping it would help calm his heart rate.

Gabriel smirked.  _ That was definitely worth the wait. Totally going to hold that against him forever. _ “Long enough,” he replied. “You’re really good at that.”

Dean scoffed. “Of course I am. Gotta be in this line of work.” He said indignantly. “Did you want something? Or were you just admiring my sweet ass?”

Gabriel’s smirked widened, and he tilted his head to take a peek at said ass. He shrugged. “Eh, I’ve seen sweeter.” he teased.

Dean sputtered, torn between defending his ass, and not wanting the Trickster to look any more than necessary.

Gabriel decided to take pity on him for once. “But, yeah I did have something to talk to you about.” He said, as he walked closer to the elder Winchester. “I don’t think you were being truthful with me about Sam,” he said, leaning against wall glaring shrewdly at Dean.

Dean fought to keep from squirming under the Trickster’s unrelenting gaze. “What do you mean?” he asked innocently.

The Trickster narrowed his eyes at him. “Come on now, Dean. Don’t try to play a player. Every time you and Sam go on one of your ‘walks’, the Moose comes back looking confused. But when I try and spy on you guys, nothing happens and Sammich comes back suspiciously not confused.”

Dean fought to keep his panicking internal.  _ Damn the perceptive little bugger. I should have figured that I couldn’t keep him in the dark for too long. _

Dean sighed, smart enough to know when a ruse was blown. And frankly, all this damn subterfuge was starting to really wear on him. Especially since he had to hide it from so many more people now that Gabriel had managed to coax Kevin out of his shell and start socializing once again. He hated having to lie to everyone and having to consistently find more excuses for Sam’s lapses in time whenever he talked to Zeke. And he was really starting to get whiplash from switching back and forth between Zeke and Sam.

Dean looked Gabriel in the eye, noticing his determination and realized that he wasn’t going to be able to lie his way out of this. He only hoped that Zeke wouldn’t vamoose as a result of Dean spilling the beans. 

He sighed again before he began to explain to Gabriel the situation with Zeke, and Zeke’s ultimatum, and kicking Cas out, and how he was technically not supposed to be telling Gabriel all this.

“And now I’m worried that Zeke will leave, and Sammy will die because he’s not fully healed, and he’s currently the only angel who can help us who’s willing to.” He finished in a rush.

 

The entire explanation had sent Gabriel through a rollercoaster of emotions, and right now he was stuck on a mixture of anger and confusion. 

“You mean to tell me that the reason my little bro is out there,  _ without his powers or any way to protect himself, _ is because  _ Zeke _ gave you an ultimatum?!” he growled at Dean, who flinched back at the intensity of Gabriel’s wrath. 

“Hey! I’m better than that!” Dean cried defensively, “Cas is my best friend, I’d never just leave him like that! I set him up at Charlie’s apartment, one of our friends who’s currently adventuring in Oz. She left it to us to take care of and we set it up as one of our safe houses in the meantime.”

Gabriel looked slightly mollified at that. At least Cas wasn’t braving it on his own. Not that he couldn’t take care of himself, but if what the boys were saying was true, he was Public Enemy Numero Uno on every angel’s hit list right now. It was hard enough navigating the human culture  _ without _ a worldwide manhunt riding your tail. Gabriel huffed. “And here I thought  _ Zeke _ was his best friend. So much for that,” he murmured. 

“Oh yeah! That’s pretty weird too,” Dean commented. “Zeke’s never mentioned that he and Cas were best friends. Maybe Cas considered him his best friends but Zeke doesn’t feel the same?” Dean mused, somewhat hopefully. 

Gabriel smirked a little at the hopeful tone, before frowning again. “Cas must have really pissed people off by being tricked by Metadouche. I mean, if it was bad enough that his best friend has turned his back on him.” He said sadly. 

Dean frowned. “Yeah, well. He has better friends now.” He said with conviction. 

“Yeah, he does.” Gabriel agreed with a small smile, looking at Dean with an unusual amount of respect and fondness. “But still, I don’t know what Zeke is thinking on this one. It’s not like him to be deceptive like this.” He said speculatively. “I guess what’s been going on back home has really made him warier. “

Dean nodded.”Yeah well, it's been a gong show with the angels from what Cas has mentioned. With there being such a large power vacuum up there now that Raphael and Michael are gone, it’s been almost every angel for themselves.”

Gabriel facepalmed. “Oh man, and most angels aren’t like me and Cassie, most wouldn’t know what to do with that amount of free will.”

Dean nodded with a frown. “Yeah, that’s something that Cas has learned the hard way.” They both grew quiet as they got lost in their own thoughts.

 

Gabriel watched Dean for a moment, before shaking his head slightly, feeling a mixture of disgust, anger, and pity towards the hunter. Dean tricking Sam into saying yes to Zeke, no matter the circumstances, was still a major violation to Sam’s autonomy; something that Gabriel knew that Sam would not forgive easily. Especially if it resulted in someone else getting hurt, which is always a possibility with these two.  _ Honestly, they’re like the textbook definition of dangerously codependent. I wouldn’t put it past them to literally end the world if the other option was letting the other one die - and stay dead,  _ he thought, shaking his head once more.

Gabriel sighed, which prompted Dean to look at him. “So big guy, how do you wanna play this?” he asked. 

Dean blinked. “What do you mean?”

Gabriel smirked and waved his hand, “This whole Sam thing. Zeke doesn’t trust me enough right now, Sam’s still not fully healed, and Cas is living alone in some godforsaken safe house - “ Dean frowned at that last one “- This is your show. It’s your brother we’re talking about here. So…” Gabriel flourished his arms out, “How do you want to play this?”

Dean looked down for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was kind of hoping you’d have an idea of what to do about all of this.” He said sheepishly. “I feel a little out of my depth with this. Like I’m just barely keeping my head afloat. Before you showed up, I’ve just been doing what I always do. One day at a time.”

Gabriel smirked widened to a mischievous grin. “Be still my heart! Does the big strong Dean Winchester,  _ The _ Dean, need help from the almighty Trickster?” He teased, theatrically throwing a hand on his chest.

Dean scowled. “Dick,” he muttered.

Gabriel continued grinning, before sobering a little as he contemplated the situation. “Hmmm, well. Do you think that if we told Sam what’s really going on, that he would really be so stupid as to expel the one thing that’s keeping him alive?”

Dean closed his eyes for a moment, trying to run the scenario in his imagination before responding. “Yeah, I think he would,” he said. “Like I told you earlier, he was giving up. He says he’s ready to go. But It would be more out of the principle of the thing than it would be out of stupidity.”

The two of them sat, lost in thought for a moment. Dean’s thoughts were swimming in circles, completely at a loss with what to do about the whole situation. Gabriel being around seemed to be both a blessing and a curse. While it was nice having a being on their side that had the infinite knowledge that Gabriel had, it definitely threw a wrench in things.

Gabriel, on the other hand, was trying to sort out his thoughts on Zeke, and how things had gotten so bad in Heaven, and subsequently in here on Earth. There wasn’t going to be an easy answer with this, and knowing the Winchester’s luck, at least one person was probably going to die before it came to a conclusion. He sighed, well the least he could do was at least try to minimize the damages.

“Alrighty then, this is definitely a pickle that’s gonna take some finagling to get out of. What do you think Zeke would do if he knew that I knew what was going on?” He asked.

“I dunno man,” Dean replied, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck. “Like I said, I’m worried that he’ll give the same ultimatum as he gave with Cas. And with you missing your healing powers right now, we can’t really afford for Zeke to just leave.”

Gabriel looked regretful, he already had more than enough reasons to hate the fact that he was missing his Grace. He was regaining some of it, but not nearly at a fast enough rate for them to risk outing Zeke.

Dean sighed, walking over to the wall next to Gabriel and slid down it until he was sitting on the floor. Gabriel took the brief lull in the conversation to really  _ look _ at Dean this time. Dean was stressed, and for good reason. But Gabriel could tell that it was really starting to wear on the hunter. Gabriel felt a strange tug of protectiveness as he took in Dean’s tired eyes and tense shoulder muscles. He shook his head, trying to clear it.  _ Where the hell had that come from? Whatever, probably just left over caretaker feels from dealing with Kevin, _ Gabriel thought dismissively.

“Well, hey. Look at it this way,” Gabriel said softly, his lips quirking up into a rueful smirk. “At least you have one less person to hide things from.”

Dean lifted his head up, meeting Gabriel’s smirk with a wry grin of his own. “Yeah, I guess that’s a silver lining.”

Gabriel barked a laugh. “And in lives like ours, you gotta take those where you can get them.”

Dean grinned in response. At least now he had someone to share this burden. Hopefully, that would make things a little easier for him from now on. Somehow, Dean doubted it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna try and keep up with this again. So hopefully the next chapter will be up in a week or so.  
> Thank you again for all the patience, and kudos, and comments <3 Y'all are awesome  
> If any y'all wanna hit me up and chat - I'm fairly frequently over at belabee.tumblr.com <3  
> -☓


	13. The One Where Gabe Runs Away From His Problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam is too perceptive for his own damn good, and Gabe decides to run from his problems for a little bit, leaving Dean to fend for himself once more.  
> Oh, and there's more glitter ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiiiiiii  
> Sorry peeps. I swear I'm not trying to be mean and just leave y'all hanging like this.   
> I've just been plagued with some wicked ass writer's block.   
> But! I'm pleased to announce I'm gonna be doing NaNo again this year and hopefully y'all will get more out of me soon (though it might be the Wincest fic I've also been working on in the background, we'll see what I end up feeling like working on XD) ;P
> 
> Here's something that just been sitting in my google docs for a while. I try to leave a buffer of at least a chapter before posting but I feel bad for leaving y'all for so long. 
> 
> Chapter 14 is in the works - but it contains some Destiel and I suck at writing Cas so I'm a little stuck on it.

As it turned out, keeping secrets from Sam, and subsequently Zeke, was more difficult that Gabriel had first thought. Sam was a perceptive little bastard, and he had noticed the minute differences in how both Dean and Gabriel treated him since he had confronted Dean.

Gabriel had been trying to be on his best behaviour, in an attempt to show Zeke that he was indeed trustworthy. And Dean had stopped trying to convince the angel, which meant fewer walks. 

“Dude!” Dean hissed at Gabriel after Sam had pulled his brother aside to ask if Gabriel seemed a little off lately. “I thought you were good at keeping secrets!” 

“I am!” Gabriel hissed back defensively. “I’m the Trickster! You can’t pull off a good prank if you can’t keep a good secret!”

“Yeah well, chill with what you’ve been doing. Go back to being your usual self! You’re weirding Sam out.” Dean said.

Gabriel huffed. “All I’ve been doing was being nice,” he grumbled. 

“Exactly! It's friggin creepy. He thinking that maybe you came back wrong or something.” Dean said. “Hell, you’re even weirding out me and Kev a bit.”

Gabriel looked towards Kevin, who happened to be watching Gabriel and Dean right at that moment. Kevin quickly looked away and back at the tome he’d been attempting to translate. Gabriel sighed. “Fiiiine. I was getting bored of having to play nice guy all the time anyway. ” He said with a smirk. Dean rolled his eyes. 

“Whatever, just… go back to pranking us or something.”

Gabriel grinned evilly. “Oh, big boy. You have no idea what you just asked for.”

Dean scoffed. “Yeah, yeah. Bring it, little man.” He grinned back at the Trickster. Having one less person to lie to had, in fact, done wonders for his stress levels. He was starting to relax more now that he knew that this wasn’t riding solely on his shoulders anymore.

 

The pair made their way back to the main area of the library. And Gabriel promptly sprawled over the moose of a hunter who had been poring over a tome of his own that he was translating. Sam startled a little when he found himself suddenly with a lapful of Trickster. 

“Saaaaaaam. I’m boooooored.” Gabriel whined while Dean snickered. Apparently, it didn’t take long for Gabe to switch tracks from being the doting polite little guy, to the distracting, sprawling, cat of a Trickster. 

Sam looked a little at a loss for words. He wasn’t as used to Gabriel’s whiplash mood swings as Dean had grown accustomed to. “Uhhh, well, you could, I don’t know, help us with these translations?” He suggested looking down at Gabriel with a bemused smile. Gabriel glanced up at the tome that Sam was reading. “Meh, that’s boring,” Gabriel responded. He took another peek at the book. “Anyway, that one has nothing in it on Kali.” 

Sam frowned at the book he’d been translating for the last four hours. “Hmph, well that would’ve been nice to know four hours ago.” He grumbled as he put the book into the ‘dud’ pile. He looked up towards where Kevin had holed him and called out “So, mine was a dud, how are you doing on yours?”

Kevin poke his head around one of the pillars on the other side of the library; he preferred to do his research in a solitary manner. “Not entirely sure, but I’m thinking this one is too.” He replied tiredly. 

Gabriel hopped off Sam’s lap and walked over to Kevin to take a glance at his book. “Yupp, that’s a dud too.” He confirmed glibly.  Kevin sighed and got up to put the book with Sam’s, before flopping into the chair next to Sam.

Gabriel regarded the three tired men at the table. “But seriously. What do you guys do for fun around here?” He asked. 

Sam and Dean looked at each other. “Not much,” Dean replied. 

Sam nodded in agreement. “Usually watch a TV show or a movie or something.”

Sam smiled softly. “The last time we did that was when Charlie was here, just before she left for Oz.”

Kevin pouted. “I still can’t believe I missed out on all that,” he grumbled. “You guys got to actually meet  _ Dorothy _ ! And not only that but fight at her side!” 

Gabriel, apparently deciding that story time was enough to stave off boredom, sat down next to Dean and summoned up lollipops for everyone. Dean and Sam looked a little startled to suddenly find themselves with a mouthful candy, but Kevin seemed to just take it in stride.

“Dude!” Dean exclaimed. “Is this an apple pie lollipop?!” 

Gabriel grinned, “These are special lollipops. They will always taste like your favourite dessert.”

“Awesome!” Dean crowed before sticking his lollipop back in his mouth. Dean was so preoccupied with enjoying his lollipop that he didn’t notice Sam and Gabriel’s fond smiles at Dean’s childlike glee over something as simple as a piece of candy. Kevin, on the other hand, did not miss their looks and looked at the three men speculatively.

“So.” Gabriel said, leaning back precariously onto the back two legs of his chair, throwing his legs onto the table, “Who’s this Charlie character?”

Sam and Dean grinned at each other. “She’s…” Sam started, not entirely sure where to start.

Having a far closer rapport with the girl, Dean cut in, a tad more excitable than usual with the taste of cinnamon, apple, and crust fresh in his mouth. “She's a genius,” Dean said while sucking on the lollipop with a near undignified abandon. “When the Levi’s were still in town she really saved our asses.”

When Sam continued, his choice of words was only half tailored to make Dean grin, the other half was to distract them all from Dean's  _ unholy _ fascination with a lollipop. “Without her, we'd never have exploded that Dick and Dean wouldn't have found his calling in LARPing.”

Dean snorted, “You're just jealous that I'm our Queen's favourite handmaiden.”

“You're her  _ only _ handmaiden.” Sam retorted as he blinked at Dean.

Kevin, having never been able to compute Dean's nerd-ness with the badass hunter the man  _ usually _ was when Charlie wasn't involved, nearly choked on his own lollipop. Deciding to add in his own two cents, the Prophet faux whispered to Gabe, “She's the only one that can get them to enjoy life, at the moment.” He paused. “Though I've yet to personally meet her.” He added as an afterthought.

Looking at Dean contemplatively, Gabe hummed. The man was finally finished marveling at the simple act of magic and had moved onto simply enjoying the taste. Remembering how stressed Dean was what with Zeke’s manipulations and Sam's sickness, Gabe made a decision.

Additionally, this way he wouldn't have to brave his way through lying to one of the few people he had the most trouble fibbing to. Although this way he'd also be abandoning Dean to the wolves until he could get back…

After carefully weighing the pros and cons, Gabriel decided getting away from Sam's goddamned perceptiveness was well worth Dean's wrath later down the line.

“WELL,” Gabe said, a little too loudly to be comfortable as he clapped, startling the others.  “In  _ that _ case, I suppose I should fetch this wonderful lady so these two muttonheads’ll lighten up a little!”

And, just to be a douchebag, Gabe disappeared with a great pouf of pink glitter.

He was sitting right next to Dean.

Who had just opened his mouth to protest.

Needless to say, Dean doubled over, trying to gag up the glitter he had swallowed, Kevin nearly choked on his own spit laughing, and Sam… Well, Sam was trying to prevent his brother from dying by means of Pink. With a sigh, Sam stared at the spot Gabe used to occupy, trying to understand the look of thoughtfulness that flickered through the pagans face when he looked at Dean.

Sam tried not to feel jealous, although it was a close thing. Sam was never as quick to make deep meaningful connections like Dean was - his friends were few and far between, and close as they usually were - Kevin, Charlie, and Cas came to mind - his interactions lacked the effortlessness that Dean's interactions with the same people had.

 For all of Sam's supposed superior emotional intelligence, he was always the gawky, awkward one of the Winchester brothers. Dean has always had an easy grace to him that people were immediately drawn to, that allowed for quicker, and subsequently stronger, bonds than the ones that Sam created. 

When Sam was younger he used to resent Dean for that, because he had felt that if he could do the same, then maybe  _ he _ could have at least a semblance of normal, but the skill had always eluded him. But nowadays, with all that they'd been through, with all the friends and family that they'd lost over the years, he couldn't begrudge his brother for being able to quickly create a family around himself. 

Well… 

At least, he  _ thought _ he'd outgrown that teenage resentment. But lately, watching Dean's easy friendship with Gabe made that resentment rear its ugly head once more. And for all his efforts, he couldn't make it go away again, and he couldn't figure out  _ why _ . And it was  _ frustrating. _

Dean's gagging petered out to sputters before he shouted, “GABE YOU GODDAMN SON OF A BITCH! ENOUGH WITH THE FUCKING GLITTER!”, causing Kevin to double over once more in laughter, and startling Sam out of his thoughts.

Sam hummed, attempting to keep a straight face, as Dean was once again covered in glitter. “D’you think he actually went to Oz to get Charlie?” he asked Dean, who had quickly become an expert on all things Gabe (that ugly green monster was there again, but Sam had his fist clamped tight on its neck, forcing it down once more). 

Dean sputtered some more, and tried to wipe off as much of the pink stuff as possible, grumbling about how he had only  _ just _ finally stopped finding bits of glitter everywhere, and looked up at Sam, and shrugged. “Who knows? All I know is that the next time I see the little bastard, I'm gonna  _ murder _ him,” he growled in response. 

As if to reply to the threat, a random second helping of glitter poofed into existence, this time covering all of them. 

“Awe, come on.” Kevin groaned. “I didn't even  _ say _ anything,” he complained as he wiped glitter from his face. 

Sam just blinked in shock, before wiping his own face while snickering. His snickers grew into giggles until he was doubled over laughing while Dean and Kevin stared at him like they were concerned for his sanity. 

“Dude are you okay?” Kevin asked hesitantly, lightly laying a hand on Sam’s shoulder.

Sam nodded as he tried to calm his laughter. He looked up at Kevin, opening his mouth to speak, and the minute his eyes rested on Kevin’s face, he doubled over in laughter once more. 

Kevin looked at Dean, confused and trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Dean returned the look. For a moment that is, until he started snickering himself. Now Kevin was just getting annoyed. “What?” He huffed. Dean just continued snickering, meeting Sam’s eyes and bursting into laughter himself. 

“Seriously, guys. What am I missing here?” He asked looking between the brothers irately. Dean tried to stop laughing long enough to answer him, but every time he managed to catch his breath, he caught a glimpse of Kevin and bowled over again in laughter. Sam had given up trying to answer and was focusing on just trying to breathe again. 

“Your...face...glitter…” Dean had managed to finally gasp out. Kevin looked down at his body and looked back at the brothers who were just as sparkly as he was and raised an eyebrow. 

“Yes…” he said as if the boys were slow. “We are all covered in glitter.” 

Dean snickered some more at Kevin’s confused, matter-of-fact statement. It sounded exactly like something that Cas would say.

Dean stopped short, eyes widening in horror. “Shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for all the patience, and kudos, and comments <3  
> They keep me going, even when my muse doesn't.  
> Y'all are awesome <3  
> If any y'all wanna hit me up and chat - I'm fairly frequently over at belabee.tumblr.com <3


End file.
